Emotions Can Be Lethal
by bassam
Summary: It's Lily and James' 7th year at Hogwarts. Except something has changed about James, and Lily really wants to find out. She soon finds herself wondering why she cares. And that, she's in love with James? Full summary inside :D
1. Well This is New?

**Disclaimer: I'd have to be mad as a hatter to say that these magnificent characters, plots, and settings were mine. No, they are J.K. Rowling's. So please, give the credit to her. Thank you and enjoy my story!**

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**~Summary: It's Lily and James' 7th year at Hogwarts. Except something has changed about James, and Lily really wants to find out. She soon finds herself wondering why she cares. And that, she's in love with James? Around Hogwarts, people connive, trick, and prank to get what they want. Then, Lily's in the thick of it doing something she'd never thought she'd do: get James. But everyone has to watch themselves. After all, emotions can be lethal.**

**Chapter One: Well, This is New...**

"Keep moving forward." -**Walt Disney**

**~X~**

"Oh, Lily!" Lily Evans' mom wailed. She gave her daughter a hug with a death grip. "I can't believe that this is going to be your last year at Hogwarts!"

"I can." Petunia Evans, Lily's oh-so loving sister, grumbled.

"Now, now," Mr. Evans soothed his eldest, "Be kind."

"Mum!" Lily choked, "You're kinda, er–"

"Oh but my baby flower is all grown up!" Mrs. Evans squealed out, finally relinquishing her daughter.

"Mum, you weren't this crazy when Tuney graduated." Lily said, brushing the front of her shirt off.

The whistle on the Hogwarts Express blew, signaling everyone had fifteen minutes to get on the train and say their final goodbyes. "Alright," Mr. Evans clapped his hands together, then motioned for Lily to come near him. "I want my baby girl to keep her grades up, stay out of trouble, and be the best Head Girl ever."

Smiling, Lily hugged her father tightly. "Okay, Daddy, I'll try." With a sweet kiss to the cheek, Lily bade her family a goodbye and headed to the train. After some trouble, Lily finally made it to the train and sighed. Well, she thought, this is it...

While Lily was struggling with her trunk, she didn't notice the tall, lanky, built figure looming behind her. "Need some help with that, Evans?" a deep voice asked.

Lily whirled around and came face-to-face with a boy whose head was a good five inches above hers. So really, she was staring at the base of his tanned neck. "Oh," she recovered, "Sorry. Um, yeah."

With a mental note to try to gain some arm muscle, Lily watched at James Potter effortlessly lifted her trunk into the compartment on the train. "Alright, then?" he said, turning to Lily.

"Yeah," Lily smiled awkwardly, "Thanks." After a moment of uneasy silence, Lily nodded and turned to board the train. With much eagerness to find her friends, Lily nearly ran into on of her best friends. She huffed her hair out of her face and waited for the slew of insults and hugs.

"God, Lily!" Mariette Williams squealed at she attacked her friend with a hug. "Walk much?"

"Sorry." Lily jumped from one foot to the other in her friend's arms. Sure, they wrote each other, but it's not the same.

"Where's everyone else?" Lily asked, excited to see the rest of her friends.

"Here, come on." Mariette grabbed Lily's hand and led her to a messy compartment. Inside was a blonde with long, awkward limbs; there was a tanned brunette who had ink all over her hands, probably from writing; and lastly, there was a was an elegant looking girl with light brown curls and an Italian nose. God, had Lily missed them.

"Oh my god!" the blonde, Selena Baker, jumped up, whacking her hand on the shelf above her. "Oh, ow!"

"Good job, Lena." Annabelle Robins, the brunette, said.

"Oh shut up." Selena retorted, turning her attention back to Lily. "I missed you!" Lily found herself again in the death grip of a hug.

"Merlin, don't kill the girl!" the elegant one spoke up.

"Yeah," Lily choked out, weaving herself out of the long arms of Selena. "Listen to Kendall."

"Oh my god! Speaking of!" Mariette practically shouted. "You'll _never _guess who Miss Winterburn is going out with!"

"It one of the Marauders!" Selena shouted, stumbling back to her seat. Lily sat next to Selena, across from Kendall and Annabelle.

"Ugh, way to ruin the surprise." Mariette sighed as she took her seat next to Annabelle.

"She still doesn't know which one!" Selena pointed out jovially.

"Did one of you give her sugar or something?" Lily whispered to Kendall.

"She bought herself a licorice wand." Kendall stated, rolling her eyes.

"Hey," Selena defended, "It's not like I even ate it all. Annabelle ate, like, three-fourths of it."

"Shut up." Annabelle smiled guiltily. "You guys are so mean to me."

"Oh cut the crap." Lily rolled her eyes, "Who is it?"

Kendall muttered something completely inaudible.

"Really, Ken?" Lily chucked her friend's knee, causing her to squeal:

"Sirius Black!"

Lily's mouth was left agape. "Y-you're going out with Sirius? He's the worst of them!"

"Well..." Kendall blushed.

As if having a radar for trouble, Sirius showed up at their compartment door. "Hey, Kendall," he said, not moving in the slightest when the train lurched forward, "There's an empty compartment still left." Sirius had this mischievous, suggestive look on his face.

Kendall's face and neck flushed a cherry red. "Oh..." She glanced at Lily. Lily just looked up, as if saying, "All right go..."

"But we gotta go before–" Without finishing the sentence, Sirius was whisked away.

"Okay, so, anyway," Lily said, smiling at how her friend just obliged to a Marauder, "Speaking of Marauders, Potter was actually nice to me!"

Everyone's brows shot up. "I mean," Lily began to clear up, "He didn't ask me out. He just helped me with my trunk. Not even one suggestive glance."

"Are you sure he wasn't Confunded?" Selena asked, sitting up and hitting her head on the shelf above her. "Shit..." she cursed under her breath.

Annabelle threw a chocolate frog at Selena's face.

"Positive," Lily said, nodding.

"Wow," Mariette smiled, "Are you sure it was him?"

"Are you sure it was who?" Potter's voice called at their door. What was it with Marauders randomly showing up? They probably had trouble radars built into their brains, thought Lily. James looked straight at Lily and said, "McGonagall wants to talk to us."

"Oh?" Lily shot a questioning look to her friends as she rose to follow James. "Okay."

They walked down the aisle of the train all the way to the back. Lily stared at the back of James' neck. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt that silhouetted his finely toned back. Travelling up his back and neck led you to messy, black hair. It stuck up in all directions, like he just woke up. But it was extremely attractive.

However, Lily just thought it was obnoxious and stupid. Who wants messy hair? "By the way, Evans," Potter said, bring Lily out of her thoughts, "I'm Head Boy."

Lily stopped, unaware of the compartment full of Slytherins next to her. Among these Slytherins was Severus Snape, looking eagerly at Lily. She looked pretty in her green, off-the-shoulder shirt and short, cut-off shorts.

"You're what?" asked Lily, shocked.

"Head Boy." James repeated, shrugging and turning back on track.

Refusing to move, Lily stood her ground. "How?"

"Well don't you think that's what we're going to find out?" James snapped, trying to keep his temper in check. The summer was so stressful. His father died doing Auror work, and it was then that his mother decided to tell him that he had an arranged marriage. Lily was certainly not helping any by looking exceedingly attractive.

James regretted his harsh tone as soon as he saw Lily shrink back a bit. To top things off, Severus stood and slid open the door. "Is there a problem here?" he asked, looking concerned at Lily.

"Bug off, Snape." James directed his anger at Snape. "We're fine." With that, he turned on his heel and proceeded to McGonagall's location. Lily followed without hesitation, not wanting to talk to Severus at all.

"I hate him." Lily stated with fury.

"That makes two of us." James looked behind and smirked at Lily.

Normally, Lily would scoffed about this. But something has changed about this boy. His smirk doesn't hold that normal cockiness to it. He seems a lot more serious, now. A lot more _mature_. And why hasn't he asked Lily out yet? Usually that's the first thing out of his mouth. Except, now, it's not. Something's up. And Lily wants to know.

"Here," James turned abruptly to a compartment with closed curtains. He rapped it three times and slid the door open. Holding the curtains back, James motioned for Lily to step in. Cautiously, she did so.

"Hello, Mister Potter and Miss Evans." Professor McGonagall greeted them, "Thank you for joining me." With a wrinkled, bony hand, she motioned to the seat across from her. "Please have a seat.

Lily awkwardly sat down next to James. "Hello, Professor." she smiled.

"Hello, Lily." McGonagall acknowledged the two again, then began her speech. "Now, as I'm sure you two already know, you're both Head Boy and Girl. Evans, as I'm sure, has already had some experience with Prefect duties. So, I'm positive she'll be glad to assist you, Potter.

"With being the Heads, comes new responsibilities. It's crucial that you set a good example. You must keep satisfactory grades. If one of you should drop below Acceptables, you will be put on probation. Should you fail to raise your grades within three weeks of probation, well, we'll just have to find someone else to replace you in your position.

"I will not put up with pranks." McGonagall looked pointedly at James.

"Don't worry, Professor," James reassured, "No pranks from this bloke this year." He paused, "Well, not big ones, at least."

"Very well," McGonagall began again. "It will be your duty to schedule Prefect duties and times. You will have a Head Dorm. It's equipped with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small commonroom. You don't have to use it, however. The password to get in is either one of your last names, and you can change it at any time. Do not misuse the dorm. Please, do not cause any trouble. You are the example. Now, any questions?"

Lily glanced at James, who was staring at McGonagall's hat. "No, Professor." they said in tandem.

"Good. You're dismissed." McGonagall, not waiting for them to stand and leave, stood herself, pulled back the curtains, and exited the cabin.

"Well," Lily said, standing, "That was a whole boatload of information."

James just nodded curtly and exited the compartment to join his friends. Why was Lily making an effort to talk to him? After all, she hated his guts. It should be the other way around. However unfortunate for her, James was not in the mood for small talk.

On their way back, James and Lily's paths were blocked by a girl with rim-rod straight, dark brown hair, green eyes, and light freckles dotting her nose and cheekbones. Lily recognized her to be Clara Ricks, the girl who she competed with for top grades ever since first year. Even though Remus always beat the two of them.

"James," Clara cooed, throwing her hair over her shoulder professionally. Self-consciously, Lily pulled her own red, straight hair behind her and put it into a low ponytail. "We have to discuss wedding–"

"Um, Lily," James interrupted suddenly, "You can go."

With a suspicious look, Lily nodded and walked back to her friends. _Wedding what?_ she thought. Maybe that's what's got James all uptight. Maybe there's a wedding going on in his family. But she still didn't get what Clara had to do with any of that.

James watched Lily walk, unable to keep his eyes from traveling low, to watch Lily's hips sway as she retreated. There was a graceful sensuality to it. Lazily, the blood coursed through him a little faster. "Ahem," Clara coughed impatiently, "We have plans to discuss?"

Drawing his attention to Clara, James followed her inside her compartment. "So I think it should be a small wedding. Not to big. However, we should have a maître d..." With a smile, James pretended to listen and nod. Even though it was arranged, against James' will, he didn't think he minded much. Clara was pretty, had perfect cupid-bow lips, and beautiful, captivating eyes. But he couldn't help his mind from wandering to Lily. How she had so many quirky imperfections that caught James from the very beginning. The way her button-nose rotated ever so slightly to the right, or how when she needed glasses for fourth year, you could tell her left ear was a bit higher than her right; those little things caused James to ask her out every five seconds and perform loud pranks to catch her attention.

What was with this whole arranged-marriage-thing, anyway? His mother knew he'd been after Lily for six years of his life. But James couldn't recall his mother encouraging him. Perhaps he could do something about this. It wasn't that he couldn't love Clara. But he wanted his one chance with Lily. One night. One kiss. One week. Whatever. He wanted it before he had to marry Clara.

Call him crazy.

Call this crazy.

**xxx**

"This is seriously amazing!" Kendall squealed at she sat down on the plush couch in the Head Dorm, cuddling right up with Sirius as he sat down next to her.

"I know!" Lily said, sitting down at one of the two provided desks. "Look at this desk! It's so elegant!"

Selena went to check out the fully-stocked bookshelf, hitting her hip against the painful corner of an end table. "Look at this bookshelf! Merlin you've got everything in the world in here!" She went to pull a book out, but Mariette stopped her.

"I'd advise you not to touch that," Mariette said in a motherly tone, "Or else we'll have to be cleaning up books for the rest of the night."

"And you say _I'm_ the mean one." Annabelle called from next to Lily, looking at the nice quills that were also provided.

"This place is swanky." Sirius said with a nod.

"Swanky?" a voice said from the door, "It's more like an extremely upscale dorm." Remus Lupin ambled through the door with his hands in his pockets, sand-colored, split-ended bangs falling over his scarred forehead.

"Isn't that what Padfoot just said?" Peter Pettigrew commented, following closely behind Remus, hands clasped together under his chin.

"Yeah, Moony," Sirius smirked, pulling Kendall onto his lap, "Listen to Wormtail, over here."

A whistle emanated from the door. Everyone looked over at James, who was smiling, hands deep in the pockets of his school pants.

"James," Lily said, "Fix your tie."

James glanced down at his loose, crooked tie. "Aw, come on, now. We just got done the feast. Cut a guy a little slack?"

But Lily just rolled her eyes and continued to poke through the teacher-style desk with Annabelle.

"So, Prongs," Sirius said, reluctantly letting Kendall go as she went to go through the personal library, "You gonna abandon us now that you have this fancy-arse dorm?" Sirius tried to keep his tone light, but failed to keep the worry out of it.

"Nah," James said, taking a seat next to his best friend, "I think I'll stay." He glanced at Lily, who was talking animatedly about something or other, and felt that tingle return. The same old tingle he used to get whenever he looked at her.

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**Author's Note: Well here it is! I got inspired by "Speak Now" by Taylor Swift, since the single was released not too long ago. I can't wait for her new album! :) Anyway, the sequel is going to contain the seriously inspired Speak Now mumbo-jumbo. This is just to show all the stuff they went through. And since I really need to write some full-fledged stories.. Anyway, hope you like it and... REVIEW PLEASE ;) ~Love, LupinLuver888**


	2. You Need to Pay Attention

**Disclaimer: I'd have to be mad as a hatter to say that these magnificent characters, plots, and settings were mine. No, they are J.K. Rowling's. So please, give the credit to her. Thank you and enjoy my story.**

**

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Chapter Two: You Need to Pay Attention**

Come on, come on, don't leave me like this. I though I had you figured out. **-**_**Haunted**_** by Taylor Swift**

**~X~**

"So we'll need to put those two on the third floor corridor... Potter? Potter. _Potter_, wake up." Lily sighed as she threw her clipboard at James Potter's face. "It's not that boring."

James slowly opened his eyes. "Oh, but dear Evans, that's where you're wrong." He shook his head and ran his hand through his messy, thick hair. "It _is_ quite boring."

"Well too bad." Lily shook her own head. "We only have a little left. Think you can stay awake for that long?" The two sat on the couch in their Head Dorm. The two teens decided it was the best place to work out their responsibilities and the Prefect duties. They were well settled in, it being a week and a half into school. James peered around at their nicely decorated commonroom. It had golden wallpaper, like in the Gryffindor commonroom. There were plush, red couches, a warming hearth, and an extending hallway in the back. The hallway led to the bathrooms and bedrooms. On the end, directly, was the nice bathrooms. On the left was a bedroom that said "EVANS" on it. The one on the right said "POTTER" on its small, golden plaque. The place was really quite nice, with the desks that felt old and honored, as if it was sacred before the very first Heads sat at them.

"Ugh. Come on, Potter. Just a little longer. Then you can go play with Black." snapped Lily, and promptly grabbed her clipboard back.

As if he hadn't a care in the world, James leaned back and rested head in his hands behind him. "More like I'll go hang out and watch Moony study. Sirius is _always_ with Kendall. Either snogging each other senseless anywhere or cuddling and whispering random things to each other in class." James sighed, remembering how he used to long for that with Lily. He kind of still did.

"Oh tell me about it!" Lily slapped the ever-important clipboard down on her propped up thighs, "And when they're not together, he's all she can talk about! It's like, what happened to talking about Quidditch–or whatever! I don't even remember what we used to talk about!"

James was the first to start their bout of laughter. Soon came Lily, and they were tumbling over the side of the couch, laughing. From the floor, looking under the coffee table, James could see Lily on her back staring at the ceiling. Her face was flushed and had the remnants of the chuckling on her face. The tingle rose in his stomach, and remembered he had to talk to Clara. About seeing each other, just for the school year. Hopefully, she won't take an offense to it. But James really wanted to know what it was like to be loved by Lily.

Of course, James thought bitterly, _Snape_ knew. But he had to go and just threw it away. Bloody bloke. Tossed everything Lily had to give by just uttering that one _forbidden_ word. And after, he expects Lily to forgive him! Can you say: delusional?

"How about we finish those posts later?" James smiled, his gaze slowly roaming Lily.

Letting out a giggle, Lily simply nodded. Having no clue for how long, they lay on the floor, sandwiched between the couch on their individual side and the coffee table. When the sun began to set, Lily considered getting up to go sneak something from the kitchens; she doubted the food was still set up in the Great Hall. Right when Lily decided she'd go, her stomach let out this monstrous growl. Her face blushed all over again.

"Hungry?" James smirked.

"Yeah, most likely." Lily smiled and sat up, temporarily blinded as the blooded coursed to her head. She noticed the same happened to James as he sat up. "Ugh, let's not do that for awhile."

"But it was fun." Standing, James stuck out his hand and offered it to Lily. She took it not-so-graciously and laughed. "Let's go to the kitchens. I know this secret way of getting there." He paused, "But we'll have to make a stop at the dorm, first."

**~XXX~**

The Marauder's dorm, was –without a doubt– what anyone would expect. Abandoned socks, broken quills, shreds of parchments, and after-prank remnants cluttered the floor. Shirts and other unmentionable clothing items hung on the bed posts and bureaus. Lily couldn't help but laugh at the obviousness of whose space was whose.

You could tell which area was James', because it looked as though he tried to keep it neat, he just couldn't. The pile of letters from adoring parents helped give it away, as well. Sirius' bed curtains were pulled closed and his bureau already had several Kendall items on it. Remus' bed was neatly made, despite the textbooks and chocolate wrappers, and everything about it was generally clean. There was, however, the stray sock or broken quill bit floating over from one of the other Marauder's. Lily had to agree that Peter's was the most obvious, due to the unkemptness and candy wrappers.

"Moony is probably in the library," James half-muttered.

"What? Potter, why are you whispering-slash-muttering?" Lily rolled her eyes, frustrated.

"Because," laughed James, "Know Padfoot and Kendall, they're probably snogging in there." He motioned to Sirius' closed curtains, amused with Lily's shudder.

"Gross." Lily laughed, louder than she intended.

The curtains around Sirius' bed fluttered, there was shifting noises, and Kendall popped her head out. Both Lily and James burst out laughing at the knots on Kendall's head. "_What_ do you guys do?" Lily barely managed to say.

"More like: what are you doing in here?" Kendall blushed deeper than she already was.

"We were just gonna get something." Slowly, James ambled to the trunk as the end of his bed and began digging around.

"Kenny, what–?" a boy with jet-black, James-Potter-messy hair opened the curtains slightly and stuck his own head out. "Prongs? Wait–Evans?"

"Calm down, Black, we'll be out of here soon enough." Lily snorted.

"Good." Sirius muttered into Kendall's neck.

"Get a room." James said, finally coming up with a piece of parchment that was folded several times.

"We had a room until you came, mate." shrugging, Sirius pulled Kendall back and closed the curtains.

"I swear," James grumbled, "That's all they ever do these days!"

Instead of answering, Lily just grabbed his hand and led him out into the hallway. Piles of dirty clothes lay outside the doors of the boys' different dormitories; Lily carefully avoided these as she made her way to the stairs. Once the pair was in the commonroom, noting that everyone was busy chatting and studying, she turned on James. "So," Lily looked at the parchment, "This is?"

"You hurt me." James looked sullen, "_This_ is none other than..." He paused for "dramatic effect". "... The Marauder's Map!"

Lily stared at him blankly. "That is...?"

"Ugh! Child–" Lily gave him a look, "–Evans, how could you?"

"Maybe because I never liked you?" struggling to take the weight out of the sentence, Lily gave a ha-ha smile and focused on the point. "Seriously though, what's up?"

James just smiled and took out his wand and said, "_I solemnly swear that I am up to no good._" He gave the parchment a tap, and Lily watched with awe as it came alive.

"What is this...?" she questioned, daring to lean so close to James that her nose almost brushed his cheek.

"Just wait." James opened the parchment, and revealed a detailed map of Hogwarts. Little footprints with names under them dotted all around. Lily's own name stuck out to her.

"Is this... Is this Hogwarts? Is that really me? What is that passageway–" Laughing at herself, Lily shook her head and replaced the space between herself and James' cinnamon smelling neck.

"This here," using his wand as a pointer, James motioned to a passageway branching off of a fourth floor corridor, "is what we'll be taking to get to the kitchens."

"Impossible. Does Dumbledore know these are here?"

"Probably, but he doesn't do anything to conceal them. Besides, what harm can they do?"

Lily shrugged and her stomach let out another loud rumble. "Let's get going." she said.

No one noticed when James took Lily's hand to lead her out of Gryffindor tower, and Lily didn't really mind. All she knew was that she was extremely hungry.

**XXX**

Potions class, needless to say, was definitely _not_ Lily's favorite class. It was first period and the class she did worst in; she struggled to keep her O. Being in the Slug Club didn't help, since it wasn't really a study group. And she didn't have Snape anymore to help, not that she wanted it from him. So there she sat on a Wednesday morning next to Remus Lupin, fighting to stay awake.

The night before, she and James snuck down a secret passageway, with help of the Marauder's map, and to the kitchens. There, they pigged out on ice cream and several other sweets before getting shooed out by a house elf. Honestly and shockingly, Lily enjoyed herself. Something was still very different about James, and she still wanted to know why. But maybe that could wait. For now, she should just enjoy her last school year.

"Today, class," Slughorn turned from his chalkboard and drummed his chubby, chalky fingers together, "We will be making a Sleeping Draught. Now, can anybody tell me what this is? Oi, you, sleeping!"

Sirius Black jolted up in his seat and recited automatically, "A sleeping potion."

"Very well," Slughorn raised an eyebrow and said rather snippishly, "And has someone slipped _you_ a Sleeping Draught?"

Looking rather offended, Sirius pressed a hand to his heart. "What in the _world_ would make you think that, Professor?"

Lily, Remus, and Peter laughed under their breaths. Kendall, Annabelle, Selena, and James were lucky enough to have not taken Potions first semester. "Alright, alright. Enough of that. Get to work. Ingredients and brewing instructions can be located on page one-oh-two. Chop, chop!"

The rest of the period passed quite uneventfully, save for Peter and Sirius blowing up their cauldron. That was expected, though, as they always did. Lily walked out with the three, giggling about Slughorn's face, when she was met with a face-full of James-shirt. "Walk much, Evans?" he smiled.

"Only when there aren't towering gits in front of me." Lily said this with half as much as an insulting tone than she normally would. Merlin, what was going on here?

"Well, allow me to make up for it." James bowed dubiously. _Here it comes, _Lily thought, _He's finally going to ask me out. "I'll put more effort into figuring out Prefect duties."_

That was the farthest thing from Lily's mind. She hated to admit it, but she was slightly disappointed. "Oh..." Quickly, she plastered a look of relief on her face; because she saw James' face grow in realization at Lily's expectations."Thanks. That'll be a lot of help."

"Yeah," James muttered awkwardly as the five began walking to Muggle Studies. Selena and Annabelle found them, Selena almost taking out a statue of a regal looking witch.

"Oh, crap!" Selena shouted, hurrying to set it up right again.

"Nice." Annabelle sighed.

"Lily! Hey!" a voice called from behind the group. Lily whirled around at the unfortunately familiar-sounding voice.

"Snape?" she said, already angry.

"I'll talk to him," James growled, instinctively stepping between Lily and Snape.

"Relax, _Potter_," Snape spat, "I just want to talk to her."

"Obviously, _Snivellus_, she doesn't want to speak with you." spat James right back.

"Why don't you let her make her own decisions?"

"Why don't you just shove off?"

At those last words, Snape drew his wand and held it up to Potter's throat. Reflexively, James drew his own and placed it at Snape's. Lily gasped at the scene unfolding before her. It reminded her so much of fifth year, when Snape had "accidentally" called her the forbidden name. Sirius, too, whipped out his wand and gripped it at his side, in case back up was need.

"You guys are such prats!" Lily shouted. She grabbed the back of James' shirt and pulled him back. "You, you know I can defend myself. You don't need to go threatening people for me." Just when Snaped laughed a little, Lily turned her rage to him, pointing her wand at his chest. "And _you_, don't you see that I don't want to talk to you anymore? I don't want to see you. I don't want to hear your apologies. And I most _definitely_ do not want you and your creepy clan of Death Eater wannabes following me and my friends around! So you better get out of here before I hex all the grease out of your hair and do some ungodly things with a dull spoon. _Now_."

Snape looked at her with wide eyes before slowly turning and heading to whatever class he felt. Lily breathed a sigh of relief at his retreating figure. "That felt good," she uttered to herself.

"I'm sorry, Evans." James whispered to her, looking sheepish.

Kendall chose then to find the group, looking confused at the state of everyone. "What'd I miss?" she asked just as Lily said, "It's okay, Potter."

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**Author's Note: Well I finally updated. Writing this chapter was_ so_ difficult! I rewrote it at least three times. It's not even that long. I have no clue how people do it! But yeah, here it is. I feel like I'm moving things along too fast, but rest assured, it'll all work out. So I have no clue when the next time the next chapter will come out, since I'm so busy. But who's excited for the premiere of Harry Potter number 7, part one! I am :) My friend is taking me to the midnight premiere and I am dressing up! :D Tell me your plans in a review! ;) ~LupinLuver888**


	3. Humor Me

**Disclaimer: I'd have to be mad as a hatter to say that these magnificent characters, plots, and settings were mine. No, they are J.K. Rowling's. So please, give the credit to her. Thank you and enjoy my story.**

**

* * *

Chapter 3: Humor Me**

_If you can make a girl laugh, you make her do anything. _**~Marilyn Monroe**

**~X~**

On the other side of a huge window that dominated one wall of the Head Dorm, the sun was rising. The sky was gold and it seemed like a beckoning for a good day. However, on the inside, it was the exact opposite. Clara Ricks had fake tears streaming down her cheeks. James sighed heavily and checked his watch while running a hand through his not-yet-combed hair. He should've waited until after classes, when there was less of a chance of Lily showing up at any given moment. But Clara had shown up right after Lily had gone off to do some last-minute studying for her History of Magic class. He probably should've gone with her; the studying was needed and he would've avoided Clara. "I... I don't understand!" Clara squealed, throwing her hands up.

"Well–" James began awkwardly.

"No, no. I get _that_. I just don't get why _her_? She's got such a bad complexion even Buber Tuber pus couldn't cure it." snapped Clara with a shudder.

"Complexion," paused James, "isn't everything. Lily is..." But he was lost for words. Lily was just so sweet and smart, she was a lot of things. You couldn't put it into words. Lucky for him, he didn't have to. Lily had chosen then to walk in.

"Clara?" she said curiously. James turned to look at his heroine and felt his lips curve on their own accord. Her robes were neatly pressed; red hair was pulled into a tight braid.

With a particularly loud sniffled, Clara sat up straight. This reminded James of a rooster ruffling his feathers, courting the hens. This, however, was not the situation, James thought bitterly. "Oh, _Evans_," Clara snapped.

James took this as his cue. "Evans!" he jumped from the couch, laughing nervously. "I suppose we better get going. What with History of Magic first period and all..."

"I don't have History of Magic." said Clara rather prudently. That being said, she stomped to the portrait hole.

"What was her problem?" said Lily, shrugging and puckering her lips.

"Maybe she found out she was being forced to room with a hipogriff." James said, smirking. Lily laughed and shook her head. "Let's go, we'll be late for History of Magic."

Grabbing her bag, Lily nodded in agreement and followed James out of the room.

**xxx**

History of Magic had to be the most boring class ever. Sirius shook his head several times to wake himself up. Professor Binns was just so monotonous. Counting the amount of blond-versus-brown hair on the back of Remus' head became boring fast. He glanced at who was sitting next to him; Lily was taking avid notes. She had to be the only one actually interested in this class. Wishing Binns would just hand out the bloody test already, Sirius moved his eyes to the pair in front of Lily and Remus: it was James and Kendall. Kendall looked just as bored as he was.

With somewhat of a jerk, Sirius ripped a piece of paper from his notebook and scribbled _Hi_ on it quickly; the name _Kendall_ written on the side after it was folded. "Psst! James!" Sirius hissed. James turned, his hair sticking up on one side from his hand being rested in it.

"What?" he said rather crankily. You could tell James was tired.

"Pass this to Lily to pass to Kendall." said Sirius, his puppy dog look in action. James rolled his eyes and kicked the back of Lily's chair. Instead of turning around, she shook her head and moved her quill even more furiously across the page. A louder kick to the back of her chair and Lily whirled around menacingly. Sirius coughed loudly, stupidly, and caught the attention of Professor Binns. Though he was quick to withdraw his outstretched hand, James was not quick enough.

"What do we have here? Note passing?" Professor Binns raised a translucent, ghostly eyebrow. Lily's eyes widened as she turned around to explain herself, but Binns just raised his see-through hand and shook his head. "Miss Evans, Mister Potter, our Heads. Mmm, note passing earns a point deduction. And since you're Heads: _detention. _Tomorrow night at six. I hear Slughorn has some cauldrons he needs cleaning."

Holding back his sniggers, Sirius sat up and started to say, "But Professor, it's my–"

"Would you like a detention, too?" Professor Binns shot a lethal glare around the room. "Thirty points for each of you, Evans and Potter."

James nodded stiffly, crossing his arms, and Lily snapped her quill silently. At the end of class, she crammed her things into her bag and rounded on James. "You stupid prat, Potter. That's my first detention in all my years at Hogwarts! Couldn't you have given it straight to Kendall?"

"Hey, hey, Evans," Sirius cut in between Lily and James. Suddenly, Lily was furious at how much taller he was than her. "Calm down."

"I'll calm down when one of you get me out of detention!" shouted Lily, throwing her hands up.

"Wait, you've never been in detention?" James questioned, shoving his friend out of the way.

Blushing, Lily brushed passed and said, "No. And I didn't plan to be, until you got us in trouble." She then muttered something that sounded like she was saying it didn't pay to hang around a Marauder.

"It's actually quite fun." said James with a smirk, he and his friends easily keeping pace with Lily.

"Bug off, Potter. She's in a foul mood," said Kendall, not even faltered at Sirius' lips on her neck, "and you'll only make it worse."

With a scoff, James threw his arm around Lily and said, "Well, Evans, my flower, we've got Muggle Studies with Quirrel."

"I never did understand why you took Muggle Studies, Evans," Sirius said, taking an irritating pause (during which he was kissing Kendall goodbye), "You've grown up in a Muggle family. You're Muggle-born and have a supposedly hell-ish Muggle sister."

Laughing, Lily said, "Wizards have an extremely interesting view on Muggles."

For Lily, the rest of the day and the next went by all to fast. During which, James made several cracks about Snape, Quirrel's stuttering, the fact that Sirius and Kendall never stop snogging outside of class, and when they finally tried to finish the Prefect's posts for that term, he kept rolling up scraps of parchment and sticking them in his mouth, impersonating a Hufflepuff fifth year they saw earlier that day. All of this had made Lily warm up to him somewhat. Only a little.

Now it was five o'clock and she had an hour to go before her first detention. They were on the couches in the Head dorm, finally finished with the Prefect posts. James was chucking bits of parchment into the fire.

"So, nervous, Evans?" he said, glancing up at her with puppy dog eyes she didn't see.

"Yes," Lily was staring at the embers, ruby red and dangerous looking. "My bloody first detention..."

James howled and keeled over with laughter; leaving Lily puzzled. "What's so funny, Potter?" she snapped.

"Nothing..." replied James, shaky with laughter.

"Merlin, Potter."

Just then, Mariette, Selena, and Annabelle came waltzing in with their trunks, pillows, blankets, and other various pets and clothing articles. Lily and James glanced wearily at each other. "I'll explain," Mariette said, dropping her things to the ground. "Kendall won't stop talking about Black. Or snogging him. So we're moving in with you."

"Merlin's beard." James shook his head and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose.5

"We're not supposed to abuse the dorm, guys." said Lily sadly. "But..."

Holding his hands in a defensive position, James looked at Lily glaringly and said, "You're not seriously considering letting them stay...?"

"What harm could it do?" shrugged Lily. "Besides, I've already got _one_ detention."

"And you want another one?"

"Well... Not really."

"Exactly!" James threw his hands up then moved over to Mariette's bags and picked them up. "Out. We've got detention."

"Not for another half hour." Mariette glared at James, as if he spawned the whole thing.

"Well maybe we want to go get something to eat." snapped James, already moving towards the door. He stopped just short of it and turned to ask, "How did you even get in?"

At this, Mariette blushed from the roots of her dark brown hair to the collar of her shirt. Annabelle interjected in a rather bored tone, "You have a very girl-obsessed portrait."

Lily laughed as she thought of the portrait that protected the entrance to the dorm. It was of a very handsome, Italian boy Romeo. Lily knew of him after extensive reading and research in the library. She finished the book in two days, and therefore knew the whole story of the boy in their portrait. The story was quite tragic; it had made Lily cry. And he was, indeed, girl-obsessed. "Remind me to talk to McGonagall about that." she said.

For the millionth time, James just shook his head and and head for the door. "Aw, Potter, have a heart." begged Selena, moving towards James. In all her haste, she knocked over a very ornate vase on a table next to the portrait hole. As though everything was slowed down as the vase fell; everyone in the room just stared at it. It landed with a thud and a _crack!_ before anyone could think to lunge for it. "Aw crap." Selena shook her head. When she pulled out her wand to repair it, everyone shouted "NO!" at the same time.

"Here, Lena, let _me_." Mariette said, "Before you destroy anything else." She waved her wand –ash, eleven inches, unicorn hair center– and repaired the vase to pristine condition.

"_Ooh, _McGonagall will hear about this!" crowed a voice from somewhere. All five of them looked around for the source, but no one could locate it. Until finally it spoke again bitterly. "Up here, you dolts." At this, ten eyes looked up to a portrait above the fireplace, high up on the wall, no one ever noticed. It was of a very regal looking teenager only a year or two older than the adolescents standing below. He was wearing a Slytherin tie and had his head turned up. On his head was sleek brown hair and piercing, blue eyes.

"What the...?" Mariette said.

"Peter Harkington, yes. I'm an old Head Boy, from Slytherin, of course. Died young, you see. But the best Head Boy this school has yet to see. Dumbledore said so himself. I've seen about twenty-some Head Boys and none have stood to reach _my_ standards. But this has to be the worst. Friends sneaking into the dorm, breaking things. Just horrible."

"I think your speaking is _just_ _horrible_. Fragments do not sound–" Annabelle's quite muttering was interrupted by snapping from the portrait.

"I can hear you, you know!" Peter shouted. "Look, I've been instructed my McGonagall _and_ Dumbledore. Yes, I've been told to report the going-ons of you two. Or should I say: _five_? Well, believe me, they will be hearing about this!" With those as his final words, he skittered out of the frame.

"Mother of bloody Merlin." James roared in frustration. He was acting more like Lily.

"Potter, calm down. McGonagall's dealt with us for six years. This is nothing." Lily reassured, sounding more like James. "We have to get to detention. You three," she turned to Mariette, Selena, and Annabelle, "Go to my room, bring your things and _stay there_. Selena, don't break anything else. Don't even breathe on anything." Lily then proceeded to grab James' tie and drag him out of the room.

They began their journey to Binns' room, finally getting there after several unfortunate events. Lily forgot about the trick stair, and James had to get her out with much awkward bodily contact. Then, he managed to provoke both Peeves and a rather snooty, fourth floor knight. The pair had gone through all of this, only to be sent to the dungeons. Lily despised the fact that they had to report to the teacher handing out the detentions before going to the actual detention.

Somewhere on a bench on a first floor corridor, Clara Ricks sat with her best friend Emily Barry. Emily looked rather bored as Clara went on and on about Lily and James. "She's not even really that pretty," snapped Clara, "I mean, have you _seen_ her split ends?"

"Yeah," sighed Emily, "totally."

Just then, Lily and James walked by; Lily looked rather contempt with James. Then James said something, and her contempt melted away. "Well what's up with those two?" growled Clara. With puppy dog eyes, James was looking at Lily wistfully, and Clara was disgusted. "Let's go, Emily." Huffily, Emily allowed herself to be dragged against her will.

"Why are we stalking them?" Emily whispered.

"We're not stalking, we're investigating." Clara said loudly. A group of mixed-housed boys looked at them cautiously and inquisitively.

When Lily and James entered a seemingly empty classroom, giddy and giggling, Clara became furious. What on earth were they doing in there? She voiced her question, and Emily answered obliviously, "Maybe they're gonna snog."

Inside the classroom, Lily immediately spotted the cauldrons that needed cleaning. She didn't imagine the stack would be so big. There were about eighty or so of them piled up, some turned over, some stacked neatly. The tables were pushed to one side or the other, their chairs stacked in the corner. The cauldrons were oozing and disgusting. "Bloody hell," James whistled low, "What do these first years do?"

"I dunno," shrugged Lily, "but we better get started. Binns wants these done with in the hour. _Wingardium leviosa_!" Efficiently, Lily began cleaning her cauldron with a Scouring Charm while James stood there awkwardly. She was halfway through with hers and James still hadn't moved (minus scuffling his feet). When she finished her first cauldron, Lily turned to James, "Well?"

"Er..." James' hand floated to his hair and messed with it. "I was never any good at Charms..."

At this, Lily giggled and then showed a struggle to put on a serious face. "Just try your best," she said, finally.

Muttering something along the lines of "you asked for it", James attempted to move a cauldron over to him. Halfway through it's journey to James, the cauldron tipped and spilled it's green, gooey contents. "Bloody..." he said, skidding it over to him. "What _is_ that?"

He saw Lily shudder out of the corner of his eye. "No clue." she said, raising her wand. "_Evanesco_. There–" James shot Lily a jealous look, "What? Oh just _try."_

Drawing his arm back, the boy in question tried his hand once more at a shouted a Scouring Charm, but motioned a little too harshly. Water shot everywhere, blowing James' current cauldron away and showering Lily. She froze in her now-soaked through robes and looked at James. However, it wasn't the menacing look he excepted. No, it was more of a... devious look. Before he could use his Quidditch-quickened reflexes, Lily was shooting him in the face with a jet of water emitting from her wand. When his brain started functioning properly, he shoved his hands up quickly to block the stream. "Blood hell, woman!" shouted James. A slow, muffled rumbling began from the general area of the pile of cauldrons. With a horrified look at the slowly crumbling stack of cauldrons, James –thankful his reflexes were quick enough for this– pushed Lily to the side of the room and landed on top of her. When the avalanche of cauldrons was finished, James let out his breath and put an elbow on either side of Lily's head.

"Potter," Lily said, lost for breath at their proximity, "I'd appreciate it 'f you'd gettoff me."

"Nah," he said leisurely, staring into her glinting green eyes. He paused as if he was going to say something momentous, then decided against it. "At least the cauldrons are clean now."

After Lily finally shoved James off, they began the tedious task of piling the cauldrons back neatly with magic. It was a very good Charms study session for James, who, after that detention, never had any trouble with Levitating and Summoning Spells. All the while, Lily was thinking about the messy, sopping boy beside her and shifted in her own uncomfortably wet robes. He sounded like he was about to ask her out, but hadn't, when normally he would be spouting out requests every other minute. Something was extremely fishy, and Lily really wanted to know what exactly was going on with him.

At last, the last cauldron was in place, and Professor Slughorn walked in. Their professor wore horizontally-striped night robes that did nothing for his shape. He looked rather ridiculous, and James received a blow to the side from Lily after letting a snigger escape. "Why is my classroom covered in water?" he asked skeptically.

"A bit of –er– Scouring Charms gone wrong," James stuttered, "I suppose."

"Mmm, yes." Slughorn scratched his chin appraisingly and then stuck his hand out. "Let me sign your slips and you're free to go."

Hurriedly, both James and Lily got their slips signed and bolted out. "Remind me to never serve detention with you _ever_ again." said Lily, joking about their soaked-and-see-through robes.

"I thought it was fun." replied James, shoving his hands into his pockets and smirking at the end of the hallway. At this, Lily rolled her eyes and pushed him, then gathered a bunch of fabric on the sleeve of his robes and dragged him along. Her hair curtained her face strategically, hoping he couldn't see her giddy agreement smile.

* * *

**Author's Note: Taaaaadaa! I finished! Ummm, oh yeah! I was gonna add some Clara-conniving drama, but my friend keeps annoying me and telling me to update. So here this is. I'll just make the next chapter sorta-kinda-hopefully juicy ;) In the words of Tigger: Ta-ta for now! ~LupinLuver888**

**P.S. You should review ;)**

**P.S.S. HOW AWESOME WAS HARRY POTTER DH PT. 1?**


	4. Turns Out You Don't Know Anything

**Disclaimer: I'd have to be mad as a hatter to say that these magnificent characters, plots, and settings were mine. No, they are J.K. Rowling's. So please, give the credit to her. Thank you and enjoy my story.**

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* * *

Chapter Four: Turns Out You Don't Know Anything**

The only routine with me is no routine at all. **~Jacqueline Kennedy**

**~X~**

Three weeks had gone by since Lily and James' detention. The pair had gotten along quite well since then; you could even go as far as considering them friends. And yet, he _still _hadn't asked Lily out. Why was this bugging her so much? She had been thinking about this more and more often. While trying to study in the Gryffindor commonroom with her friends, she would start staring at James with a glazed look on her face, absentmindedly chewing on her quill and thinking of reasons why he wasn't being his usual arrogant self.

The most recent happened in Divinations. Professor Trelawney was giving a particularly boring lesson reviewing tea leaves. James was sitting across the room from Lily, taking a note here and there –which Lily found quite odd. This got her thinking about why he hasn't even hinted at his usual flirting. _Why was that?_ she thought. It was beyond her. Then a balled up piece of parchment hit the back of her head. When she turned, Lily found Mariette with her thin eyebrows raised.

"You were staring, again." she mouthed. Lily rolled her eyes and turned around, blushing as she found her eyes traveling back to James.

The rest of the class, Lily made it a point not to look at James, but every now and then he would catch her eye. Finally, the class ended and she was home free. But just as her feet hit the floor after the climb down the latter, Mariette ambushed her. "Would you just tell him you love him already?" she whispered harshly.

Lily's eyes widened and she blushed; she did _not_ love James Potter –or even fancy! "Mariette, I–"

"Oh please," smiled Mariette, "I think I know when my best friend fancies a certain messy-haired boy." At this, Lily rolled her eyes and glanced around for the said messy-haired boy.

"Look, Mary, I don't know what the ruddy–"

"Ruddy my arse, Lily. Admit it." teased Mariette, suddenly turning serious when she said, "I bet he still loves you, under all that seriousness. He always did. It wasn't just your attention he wanted, Lily. He wanted your love. And he told you like, fifty bajillion times! So why–"

Lily shook her head at her friend's words and pressed the flat of her palm against her forehead, feeling light-headed all of a sudden. "Mary, I'll see you later." With that she set off down the spiraling stairs, letting her feet take her where ever they wanted.

After about fifteen minutes, Lily found herself at the doors of the library. With a sigh and a smile, she entered and breathed in the smell of old musty book. They library was her one solace she found worked best. Especially Hogwarts' library. It just oozed of peace, quiet, and knowledge. Except those few times James and Sirius found their way in, putting a new plan into action to win the attention of Lily for James.

Thin fingers trailed along the spines of biographies of varies wizards and witches; most of these Lily had already read, but she loved rereading them. She was about to pick one about the four founders of Hogwarts and the Sorting Hat when a breath said her name. Her head snapped to the end of the aisle to a lean, muscly boy who stood with his hands in his pockets, a small smile on his face. "Potter?" she whispered back.

James moved closer, his hazel eyes scrutinizing her face from behind round, gold-rimmed glasses. "I saw you race off and wanted to know if you were okay. Judging by the schedule you dropped, you've got Astronomy now." He took a small step forward, a good five inches still separating the two. "I've never know Lily Evans to skip class."

Jutting her hip out and placing a hand on it, Lily rolled her eyes and looked at James, "What about you? Don't you have Herbology?"

"Professor Sprout got some sort of fertilizer potion in her eye." replied James, stepping closer.

Then he did the most unexpected thing: James Potter kissed Lily Evans.

Lily let out a small gasp and James intruded farther into her mouth. When James released her, it had felt like an eternity had gone by. A sudden thought flicked through Lily's mind. "Why are you here?" she asked, turning back to the books even though she was unable to read anything at the moment.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay." said James, flushed from the few seconds of contact with the girl of his dreams. _And to see if I still loved you. _The thought crossed his mind before he could stop it. But the real fact of the matter: James still loved her. He still loved Lily Evans. And he didn't know if he could go through with his original plans to just go out with her and dump her by the end of the year.

Eloping sounded like a nice idea... But James doubted Lily would exclude her parents from a wedding.

"Oh," said Lily in a shaky voice. When she turned back to James, she noticed his tie was in the most horrific knot she had ever seen. "Merlin, James, what _is_ that thing on your tie?" she asked, biting back a giggle.

As he looked down, he blushed and said, "It's called a knot, Evans."

"Really?" Lily raised her eyebrows, "Because I call it garbage. Do you not know how to tie a tie?"

"I always asked Moony and never undid the knot. But I was distracted this morning and accidentally untied it. Then everyone refused to tie it for me." said James, shrugging his broad shoulders.

Delicately, Lily reached up and untied the knot. "Lily?" he said, smiling the most sincere smile Lily had ever seen, "You called me James."

Instead of tying his wrinkly tie, on sudden impulse, Lily drew him closer and stood on the tips of her toes to press her lips to his. James fumbled _–fumbled–_ around with his lips before getting over the shock; the shock that Lily kissed him, and that shock that he actually _fumbled_.

If there was one thing James could kill Clara Ricks for, it would be for her impeccable timing. "James? _Lily_? What in the name of Merlin is going on?"

As if James were on fire –which, in a sense, he was– Lily shoved him away and took three, quick steps backwards. "Clara," she gasped. It was silent, save for Lily and James' panting.

"She –er– was going to tie my tie. But..." James broke off, unsure of what to say next.

"But she had other plans." mumbled Clara. If looks could kill, Lily would've dropped dead on the spot.

"Well, not exactly," said James.

But before he could finish, Lily interrupted, "Just what exactly is going on between you two?"

"We–" began Clara. But she never got to finish, because footsteps were heard. They were loud and heavy, and that only meant one thing: Slughorn. James grabbed Lily's hand and motioned for Clara to follow him as he bolted down the rows and rows of books. He was light on his feet and Lily stumbled to keep up. Clara was somewhat tall and lithe, so she too had no problem running. Way to make me feel like the lame duck, thought Lily.

Some odd minutes went by, and Slughorn exited the library. Lily turned to James and Clara. "Potter," she said formally, "Clara, it was nice chatting, but now I have to go suck up to Professor Sinistra. G'bye."

Famous last words.

**xxx**

A few days after the library incident, Lily and James were doing their late night patrols when James randomly stopped and pulled her into a broom closet. "Potter–?" was all Lily got out before James' lips closed over hers. He spent a good minute snogging her senseless until he finally let her go to breathe. "Bloody hell, Potter!"

"Sorry," said James, looking like a shy puppy dog, "I couldn't resist. Lily, I think you should know something..." He faded off as a group of giggling girls walked by. They should probably be busting them for being out and about when they were supposed to be in their commonroom or bed, but James was too determined to snog Lily again that he didn't really care.

Little did he know that those giggling girls were Clara, her dear friend Emma, and a bunch of other tag-alongs. Stopping mid-sentence, Clara stood at a standstill in the middle of the hallway; she heard a clip of a familiar, deep voice. "Shh!" she instructed her friends, pushing them to a little alcove just next to the broom closet.

Inside, James began to speak again. "Lily, I love you," said James, staring into her wide green eyes, "and I promise I won't break your heart."

A lump lodged itself in Lily's throat as she stared up at the boy in front of her and listened to what he had to say. But instead of finishing, James just kissed her again. They kissed for the rest of their patrol time; both Lily and James' lips were swollen and red. Giggly, they went back to Gryffindor tower –passing the alcove where Clara and her friends remained silent and hidden– to where Selena, Mariette, and Annabelle finally moved back.

"That little..." growled Clara a good five minutes after the couple passed. Her delicate hands itched to work their way around Lily Evans' throat. "How dare..." Clara was so mad she couldn't even finish a proper sentence. She'll have her way, she thought. One way or another.

When Lily entered the dorm where her friends were, she let out a contented sigh and said, "I might be in love with James Potter."

Kendall looked Lily up and down; from her tousled hair and swollen lips to the gleam in her eye and the bounce in her step as she moved to her bed. "He kissed you," she said, smiling.

"Pah!" shouted Mariette, twirling a dark curl, "More like _snogged the living daylights_ out of her."

All of the girls settled into their beds and fell asleep almost instantaneously –which was oddly out of the norm.

**xxx**

The next morning, Lily woke up with a peculiar feeling. She was light-headed as she stumbled to her trunk to pull on a pair of jeans and a baggy shirt. All of her friends slept with easy, peaceful faces while Lily slipped out and down the stairs. Outside the windows in the commonroom it was a bright and sunny Saturday morning. A particularly loudly orange notice on the bulletin board caught Lily's attention. "**Hogsmeade Weekend! Go have fun, but remember your homework!**" it read. Maybe she'd ask James to accompany her.

The commonroom was only a little bit noisy, since most people were still in bed or gone to eat breakfast. Eggs and bacon sounded delicious to Lily, at the moment. But her appetite disappeared when she saw James and Clara at the edge of the landing. His deep voice drifted over to her, "I love you and I promise I won't break your heart." They kissed and Lily's world came crashing down.

Before she blacked out, the last thought that flew across her mind was, _He promised_.

**XXX**

When Lily came to, she was in the hospital wing with a bag of ice on her head and a bottle of strawberry flavored tonic beside her. But the first thing she focused on was the wary face of James Potter looming over her. "Lily? Lily, are you okay? What happened?" he asked nervously.

Mariette, Annabelle, Selena, and Kendall came storming in; Selena shouting accusations, "What did you do to her, Potter? Why on earth is she here? It's all your fault!"

James backed away from Lily's bed with his hands held up defensively. He began to say something, but Lily interrupted. "Potter, just leave." she snapped, "I'm through with you and your little games." Hurt and confused, James left. Hurt, Lily started crying: he didn't even put up a fight.

Not knowing where to go, James began running. He ran down corridors, up spiraling stair cases and down narrow ones until he came to a small, wooden door with wrought iron across it. Having lost track of what floor he was on, James wondered if he should go in or not. After casting a few glances around, decision made, he stooped and opened the door.

The room was not what he expected. Inside was a single, red cushioned chair and a punching bag. They were side by side, as if beckoning him to choose. It was one of the weirdest things he'd ever seen. James really wanted to punch something: Clara had tricked him, the conniving little bitch. Instead, he favored the chair over the punching bag.

Clara walked up to him that morning wanting to talk. Leaving his waiting spot for Lily in the commonroom, James followed her out of the room and out into the landing. "What did you tell Evans last night in that broom closet?" she demanded, flipping her sleek hair over her shoulder expertly.

"What–?" asked James. How did she even know they were in there?

"I heard you two talking." she said simply. "What did you tell her?"

James let out a sigh and looked down at Clara, noticing he and his friends towered over most of the female population at Hogwarts. "Why doest it matter?" he asked.

"Well, as your wife-to-be–"

"Clara, it's arranged."

"Whatever. Just tell me."

Thinking back to the night before, James couldn't help but smile at the thought of Lily loving him. "I told her... 'I love you and I promise I won't break you heart'."

He didn't notice Clara glance toward the portrait before she kissed him, but now that James was thinking back on it: she did. _Her and her impeccable timing_, he thought bitterly. Why was she even after Lily? Lily never did anything to Clara. That he knew of...

James gave the punching bag a couple solid punches before leaving. Another thought crossed his mind: How in the name of Merlin's beard was he supposed to earn Lily's trust?

**xxx**

Later that day, Lily and her friends finally convinced Madam Pomfrey to release her. As soon as she did, they set off to Hogsmeade. "So what exactly happened between you and Potter?" asked Mariette.

"I don't feel like talking about it," replied Lily, talking past the lump in her throat and fighting back tears, "so let's just enjoy our Hogsmeade trip." The five walked silently and Lily thought about their eventful morning. She couldn't believe that she actually let herself think James changed. That he didn't get around anymore. She thought he finally settled on Lily. Because, let's face it, even though James fought for Lily's attention –and apparently her love, that didn't stop him from getting around. He and Sirius were always each other's wingman. So, since Sirius settled on Kendall, Lily thought that James settled on herself. Obviously she was mistaken. A sudden realization crossed Lily's mind: there was already obviously something between James and Clara. How could she be so blind to simply ignore _that_? Well, they say ignorance is bliss.

"Hey," Kendall's gentle voice pulled Lily out of her thoughts, "don't feel so bad, okay?" At this, Lily nodded, grateful for her friends.

In the boys' dormitories, James lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. He rarely stayed in school on Hogsmeade weekends and forgot how quiet it was around the castle. It was the kind of quiet he needed to sort things out in his head. When the door swung open, he was momentarily mad, but calmed when he saw Sirius standing there. "I was wondering where you were," said Sirius, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. "You okay?"

After propping a pillow against his bed's headboard, James said up and looked at his best friend. He had to admit: he was shocked that Sirius wanted to keep Kendall for as long as he could. It was very out of character, but James understood. He was hoping it would be like that with Lily, but he had to screw it up.

"What even happened?" asked Sirius, scrutinizing his horrible looking friend. It was true; James looked like he went through a hurricane glued to the roof of a house. His eyes were bloodshot and his normally pressed clothes were wrinkly and messy.

"I told Lily I love her. I told her I wouldn't break her heart." James looked at Sirius with sad eyes, "But I did. I broke my bloody promise and screwed up royally."

Sirius shook his head, "Mate, don't be so hard on yourself."

"It's my fault, Sirius. I promised her. But with some unfortunate assistance from Clara, I managed to be the toerag git she always accused me of."

"Wait, Clara?" Sirius stood up straight.

"Yeah..."

"Prongs, shut the bloody fucking up. It's not _your_ fault. It's hers! You made that promise and didn't intend to break it. She _made_ you break it. It doesn't count." shouted Sirius, throwing his hands up. "Why the hell aren't you out there explaining this to Lily? You love her!"

"I can't risk it. Clara–" started James.

"Mate, you remember when I asked you about asking Kendall out over the summer?" Sirius asked, looking at James with more seriousness than James would ever expect. James nodded. "I was worried she might say no, and I was never turned down before." Another nod from James. "You told me that love is all about risk –and how much you're willing to risk for Lily. James, you've loved Lily since fourth year. _Go take the bloody risk._"

For several moments, the two friends just stared at each other, knowing it was an intense conversation since nicknames were mostly excluded. Then James hopped up, changed his shirt for a new, ironed one, he walked up to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks, Padfoot." he said.

"No problem." smirked Sirius. "Hey! Quidditch practice starts Monday!" he called after his friend, remembering why he looked for James in the first place.

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey guys! So, I know it's been awhile since I've updated... But I sort of have a good reason why. Me and my dear bestest friend carolinalikethestate are collabing! I'm sure she's in my reviews and favorite authors, so go check it out! It's a Draco/OC and Fred/OC. The OC's are based on ourselves –so if you like more insight on myself, go read it! :) Anyway, I quite like this chapter, and I hope you do, too! Well, I'll see you next time I update! Which might be awhile... Off to see **Tron Legacy**! Catch you later. ~LupinLuver888**

**P.S. Review, please and thank you's! :)**

**P.P.S. HAPPY NEW YEARRR! :) What are your new year resolutions?**


	5. Don't Say No

**Disclaimer: I'd have to be mad as a hatter to say that these magnificent characters, plots, and settings were mine. No, they are J.K. Rowling's. So please, give the credit to her. Thank you and enjoy my story.**

**

* * *

Chapter Five: Don't Say No**

It's a beautiful night; we're lookin' for something dumb to do. **~Bruno Mars _"Marry You"_**

**~X~**

It was December third when the first snow of winter hit the ground at Hogwarts. It was a Friday morning and light was poking through the girls' dormitories. Lily rolled onto her stomach and moaned. The past two weeks dealing with James was torture. He did nothing but ask for her forgiveness and for another chance. With a shudder, she realized it was like Severus all over again. But the thing that set them apart was the fact that Lily still got crazy butterflies whenever James was near.

Across the room, Selena's owl alarm clock started hooting. The crash that followed told Lily that Selena smacked it off her bedside table again –as per usual. "Why do we always have to get up so early?" she moaned. Lily sat up and looked over at her friend, a tangle of limbs and blonde hair.

"It's called classes," muttered Kendall, raking her hand through her knotty hair.

"Looking forward to see Potter-poo?" teased Mariette as she sat up.

"Ooh, yeah!" Annabelle shouted, "You gonna fall in love yet?" At this, Lily rolled out of bed, grabbed her school robes, a brush, and her makeup bag and stomped off to the bathrooms. "Someone's in a bit of a foul mood..." smiled Annabelle.

**xxx**

"... And that is yet _another_ theory on why the goblins rebelled in the first place." droned Professor Binns. James was practically asleep. Goblins, goblins, goblins –it's all they ever learn about! He fiddled with his quill and thought about the tense redhead in front of him. It was like trying to get her to go on a date with him: she simply wouldn't say, "Sure, Potter. I'd love to."

Inspired, James tored a piece of paper from his notebook as discreetly as he could. _You ever gonna forgive me?_ he scrawled quickly. Glancing at Binns, he hesitated before passing it to Lily. There was a very real possibility that she would get mad and get him another detention. But she could earn herself one... Oh, he thought, what the hell? Expertly, he flicked the note onto her desk.

Slowly and cautiously, Lily opened the note from James. _You ever gonna forgive me?_ Was she ever going to forgive him? Of course! Just... not yet. _Possibly_, Lily wrote. Her quill hovered over the parchment wanting to add more, but she decided against it.

On the other side of the classroom, Clara sat twirling her straight brown hair and staring at James and Lily. She would admit that they'd be a cute couple. However, they weren't ever going to be. Not if she had anything to do with it.

**xxx**

The next day was extremely eventful –in a bad way. It all started with Charms class. Professor Flitwick decided that the seventh year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors needed a fun class, so he gave it to them. They were to practice casting temporary Appearance Changing Charms on each other. However, he didn't want to give them _too_ much free reign, so Flitwick put them in pairs. Unfortunately, Lily got stuck with James.

"Well, my Lily," said James, rolling up his sleeves and smirking, "you first, or me?"

Heaving a sigh, Lily shook her head and shrug. "You, I guess." she said rather unenthusiastically.

"I think I'll attempt to get rid of a few of those freckles." he winked. Before Lily could protest, the spell was already flying at her face. A flash of white and Lily growled. "Relax, Lily–" James began. But then he looked at her and froze.

"What?" Lily barked, glaring at James.

"Er..." he stuttered. Lily took a step, her hair swinging over her shoulder, when she saw.

"YOU TURNED MY HAIR PURPLE! _PURPLE?_" shouted Lily, drawing the attention of everyone in the class.

"Breathe, Lily, it's only temporary." said James, backing against the wall. Then he mumbled something else, something Lily couldn't understand.

"What was that, Potter?" she said in a deathly calm voice.

He coughed and said, "It _should_ be temporary... But let me have a go at the reversal curse." At this, Lily just raised her eyebrows –so James raised his wand and tried. And tried. And tried.

"Well?" asked Lily.

"Er... Well, you see..." James began. And then Flitwick shouted for them to change partners. Lily was then paired with Remus, and James with Peter. Try as she might, though, Lily could not get her hair back to the copper red it used to be.

"I'm going to _kill_ Potter." she said to Remus, gathering her books and frowning at her hair. "No, I'm going to chop him up with a rusty fork and feed him to the squid in the lake."

Before the students could leave, McGonnagall entered the classroom. She looked grim and pressed her lips together before speaking, "Classes for the next two periods are cancelled due to an emergency. Please," she paused here, examining her students sadly, "be careful." Then she left, her robes sweeping behind her.

Lily glanced at Kendall –Sirius was latched to her as always– and asked, "What do you think that was about?"

"Dunno," replied Kendall shooing Sirius' lips away from the corner of her mouth so she could converse with her friend. "Maybe something happened to Dumbledore."

Lily shrugged and glared at gawking Hufflepuffs. "Ooh," she growled, "I'm going to kill Potter." With those words said, she marched out of the classroom after James.

Outside, it was brisk and crowded with students. Dried up, brown leaves blew across the cobblestone walkway, mingling with the snow, and Lily made a point of step on every one she could. Reluctantly, Kendall was following along hand in hand with Sirius. "Don't hurt him too bad, Lily." she said worriedly.

When she saw James leaning against the beechwood tree next to the Black Lake, Lily's breath caught in her throat. He was staring out to the Forbidden Forest, hands shoved in his pockets. The wind whipped his hair in different directions, making it look more disheveled than it normally was. Long story short: he looked extremely attractive. _Merlin,_ thought Lily, _it's awfully hard to be mad at him when he's looking like that_.

"Potter." she managed to snap when she was near enough.

He turned and focused his hazel eyes on Lily's green ones. "Honestly, I think the purple looks pretty good on you." This simple comment sparked the rage in Lily all over again.

"You bloody prick!" she shouted. James backed away from the tree and towards the back of the lake. "You said you were getting rid of my freckles, you git! But _no_, you turn my bloody hair PURPLE!"

After taking another step backwards from the advancing Lily, James held his hands up defensively. "Now, now, Lily. No need to get–" James _was_ going to say, "no need to get violent", but Lily had already pushed him into the lake. In seconds, James was swept further by the suddenly strong current of the lake. "Shit!" he shouted, flapping his arms and spewing water, "Lily! I can't swim!"

That shocked Lily. She was frozen; James Potter couldn't swim? Just then, Sirius and Kendall showed up. "Bloody hell, Evans!" said Sirius, "What did you do? He can't swim!"

"Oh my god!" panicked Lily. "What to I do?"

"Jump in after him!" Sirius shouted back. Lily didn't think to say, "Well why don't you?" Instead, Lily took her robe and shoes of and dived into the freezing cold water after the sinking figure. Steadily, she paddled out to James, hooked his arm over her shoulder, and struggled to drag both herself and James' deadweight against the now calm current. In all the panic, Lily also didn't think to dwell on the fact that the current was so calm –barely there.

Sirius and Kendall helped Lily drag James onto the bank where Lily collapsed. "Lily," said Kendall, the panic thick in her voice, "he's not breathing! Oh my god! Lily!"

A jolt shot through Lily as she bolted up. "What?"

"He's not breathing." said Sirius, his grey eyes wide. He shook his friend, "Prongs, come on!"

"What do we do?" asked Lily.

"I think he needs mouth-to-mouth." Sirius pressed his lips together and nodded. "Lily, you need to give him CPR."

Around them, students walked by without giving the odd-looking group a second glance. So, instead of protesting, Lily just shook her head and leaned over him. Slowly and hesitantly, she lowered her head and touched her nose to his. Then suddenly, before she had time to react, James sat up and kissed her. As much as she wanted to shove him away, Lily just kissed him back.

Somewhere far away, she registered Sirius laughing and Kendall saying how stupid they are. When James pulled away, Lily wrapped her arms tighter around his neck unconsciously, and he laughed. "I really do like the purple hair." he whispered into her ear, pushing the soaked purple strands behind it.

"Too bad." she muttered, kissing him again. It started snowing again, but Lily just snuggled closer to James.

**XXX**

A week passed and James and Lily soon became inseparable. Lily found that James was the perfect boyfriend. He held her hand whenever possible; he walked her to her class no matter what, even if it was on the complete other side of the castle; they were like a G-rated Kendall and Sirius. The only person _not_ happy about the couple was Clara, but that was a given.

"I hoped the purple was permanent," growled Clara to her air-headed friend Emily.

"Maybe we can turn it back," suggested Emily, twirling a blonde curl, "We can experiment with my brother's potion kit."

"No," smirked Clara, "I have a better idea."

The two girls walked along in the one-foot snow, gossiping and snickering as they went. Students ran and played in the snow all around them. About twenty feet ahead, the Marauders and company were having a snowball fight. It looked fun, and if Clara wasn't dead-set against Lily, she would've joined them. "We have to break them up," Clara explained to Emily as they passed through the thick of the fight. "It's for James' own good. He'll only get heartbroken."

Emily nodded her agreement and popped a piece of Everlasting Gum in her mouth.

"After all," continued Clara, "it's our duties to keep the pureness of blood in our families. Why should someone like Lily ruin it?"

"She shouldn't." said Emily.

"We have to come up with something." Clara sighed, "But how?" And that's when they crossed paths with a certain greasy-haired boy. He was walking broodingly in beaten up robes and a bag overflowing with crumpled parchment. "Oh, Snape!" called Clara in a grating tone.

With a look of satisfaction, Clara watched as Snape froze, turned toward the pair of mischievous looking girls, and said, "Ricks, what do you want?"

"A deal." said Clara, crossing her arms and readying herself to make her proposal.

"I'm listening." Snape crossed his own arms.

"So I hear you're still looking for Evans to forgive you."

"I'm not–"

"Shame, though. She's just a mudblood–"

"DON'T CALL LILY A MUDBLOOD!"

"Oh, so you _do_ care." Clara raised her eyebrows.

"So, what's it to you?"

"I have a proposition..."

**xxx**

That evening, the sun cast red, orange, and yellow hues on the Black Lake as it set. Birds were still out flitting around in the snow, as well as a few student. However, the students were soon hurried into bed. All except two, who remained hidden behind a bush. One was blindfolded, the other gripped a broom. "James," whispered Lily, "what are we doing? Why in Merlin's name is it so cold?"

When McGonagall left to go back inside, James popped up, dragging the blindfolded Lily along with him. Before answering, he took a moment to admire Lily. The effects of his accidental charm had worn of, so Lily's hair was bright and coppery red, just like before. The remaining rays of light bounced off of it and gave it hints of orange. "Merlin, you're beautiful," he whispered, staring at her nose and freckles, her arched eyebrows and imagining the look her green eyes was giving him.

"Can you take this thing off of me?" she said, smiling and without a hint of impatience. James kissed her in place of answering, then led her to the bank where, a week before, he pulled off his rather brilliant stunt. With gentle hands, he removed the blindfold from Lily's eyes and showed her where they were. The sun had sunk a little lower, and high above the sky was already dark and shining with stars. Then Lily realized that James was preparing to mount his broom. "Oh, no." said Lily, shaking her head furiously. "Not happening."

"C'mon. You haven't ridden a broom since first year." smiled James, offering his hand to her. His feet skimmed the ground as he floated back and forth on his broom. "The night is almost as beautiful as you." Lily hesitated. "Don't you trust me."

"Well there's a stupid question if I've ever heard one." said Lily, a smile breaking across her face. Accepting James' outstretched hand, she carefully swung a leg over the back of the broom and sat. James told her to hold on tight, so she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and buried her face into his neck. "Don't go too–"

It was too late. James was soaring towards the night sky, a smile spread on his face. The wind whipped both of their hair back and rushed loudly through their ears. "Look, Lils. Look at that view." marveled James, shouting over the wind.

Reluctantly, Lily removed her face from James' neck and took a peek at the sky. Her breath caught; the sky looked perfect. Too caught up in the view, she noticed belatedly that James was nose-diving toward the water. "James!" she screeched. Just before they plunged into the water, James pulled up and their feet began to skim the water. Lily hit his shoulder lightly. "I can't believe you." she said.

He once again put a scare in her when James through one leg over the side of the broom, sitting side-saddle. Then he through another leg over the broom so he faced Lily. "Lily," he said seriously, "I really do love you." Then, he wrapped his hand around her neck and kissed her. As if habit, Lily unconsciously pressed closer and tried not to offset the balance of the broom.

"I really do love you, too." Lily whispered against James' lips, even though no one was around to hear. Elated, James kissed her hard, leaning towards her and practically pressing her back to the broom. In almost an instant, the broom tipped and the couple toppled off.

"Merlin!" squealed Lily as they hit the cold water, the broom hovering mockingly above them. James expected Lily to be mad, but she wasn't. Instead, she was laughing her head off as they tread in the freezing water.

"That was a dumb idea." smirked James.

"I love your dumb ideas, though." Lily smiled back at James. Then, to James' surprise, Lily winked at him.

The sun had already set and the the stars shone by time they got back on the broom and flew to dry land. The couple was walking hand in hand back to the castle when James glanced up at the moon. Lily followed his eyes and smiled. "A full moon," she said, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Shit," cursed James, his eyes wide as he dropped Lily's hand, "I'm sorry, I really gotta go." He pecked Lily's cheeks, avoiding her accusing eyes, and bolted off. Lily was left in her cold, slow-drying clothes and mouth wide open. She was torn between following him and going back to complain to her friends. As soon as she took that first step, however, Snape, Clara, Emily, and some other mean-looking Slytherins stepped in her path.

"Clara, Emily," Lily greet them awkwardly, "er... Snape. What are you guys up to?"

"We're just on a stroll." said Clara, smiling in a way that made Lily want to run in the other direction. "Snape?" she said sweetly.

"Lily, there's something you don't know about those gits." began Snape in a rush.

"You mean my _friends_?" snapped Lily.

"They won't be your friends for long," muttered Snape. Then he cleared his throat and continued, "There's a reason Lupin–" ("Remus!" shouted Lily) "–is absent for so many days every month. He's a werewolf! And h-his friends, they're unregistered Animagi!"

"You're bloody insane." said Lily, backing away. "Remus is not a werewolf. James, Sirius, and Peter are _not_ Animagi."

"Well," said Clara in her slightly nasally voice, "where do you think your honest, _trustworthy_ boyfriend just ran off to? Without so much as an explanation?"

"And what do you think happened last year?" said Snape, advancing on Lily, "All those days Lupin, Black, Potter and I were in the hospital wing? Black tried to kill me! With the assistance of Potter! It was 'just a little prank'. Who's to say they won't pull one on you? They're bloody–"

"Look," interjected Clara, shooting Snape a look, "just follow us and we'll show you where they go every month. If you refuse..." With her signature hair flip, Clara snapped her pink nails over her shoulder. The mean-looking Slytherins on either side of her moved forward and hoisted Lily up by the arms.

"You dolts! Let go of me!" shouted Lily, swinging her legs back and forth in panic. "Look, I don't really care even if they _are _what you say they are! I'll still love James and I'll still treat them all like family."

"Oh," laughed Clara, smiling a toothless smile. Her lips were covered in bright red lipstick and seemed to slither when she said her next words. "Your precious James and I are getting married. It's arranged, honey. There's nothing you can do about it. He's probably only going out with you so he can say he got the only girl who didn't want to date him. Hate to break it to you."

The world tilted and Lily would've fallen had it not been for the death grips on her arms. "W-What?" was all she could manage. Then the rage hit her. _That toerag! What a git! I can't believe I actually trusted him_. she seethed. "Show me." she said simply.

"We'll have to move quickly," said Snape, already moving.

It had to be around twelve when the odd-looking group reached the Whomping Willow. The tree looked innocent enough; it was swaying slightly, even though there was no breeze. But when Snape approached, it twisted and turned savagely. It swung on him and Lily found herself hoping it hit. Unfortunately, Snape jumped away just in time, snapping a twig in the process. He threw it at a knot at the base of the tree and the Whomping Willow became immobile. "Only two can come at a time." he said, a proud look on his face. "Anymore and we'll risk being seen. The rest of you hide. Lily, take my hand."

If you looked at the look on Lily's face, you would've thought he asked her to run through the halls of Hogwarts in her underwear. "I'm sure you can show me without physical contact." said Lily, inhaling deeply.

"Okay, but there are a lot of things you can trip on." replied Snape, the proud look replaced with a sad wistful one. Then, he ducked down and went through a well hidden entrance to something. "_Lumos_," he whispered, motioning for Lily to do the same. After she did, Snape led her through the seemingly never-ending tunnel.

As she tripped over a root, Lily came to a sudden realization. This passage way was on James' map. It was on the Marauders Map. She almost called to Snape, but a loud howl emitted from somewhere up ahead. It sent shivers down both Lily and Snape's back. After about ten more minutes of walking, they finally reached the end. There was an entrance to a room where a werewolf, a shaggy black dog, a tall stag, and mouse were skittering around.

A sharp intake of breath drew everyone's attention. It took a moment for Lily to realize who it was. It was her.

Before everyone's eyes, the stag bubbled and transformed into James. "Pads, keep Moony in check," he ordered briskly. Then he turned to Lily, "Lily, I'm so sorry you had to find out like this."

"How long have you been getting away with this? Potter," –James winced– "this is dangerous!" Rage surged through Lily as she remembered the bit of information she learned from Clara. "And what are you playing at? You're engaged to Clara!"

"Bloody hell," cursed James, "Look, Lily, it's _arranged. _It's not like I actually proposed to her–"

"Whatever," cut in Lily, "The fact of the matter is you were gonna break my heart anyway." –"Maybe not," muttered James, but no one heard over Lily's rant– "I can't believe I actually let myself trust you. You're the bloody player I pegged you for from the start."

A proud, satisfied feeling surged through Snape as he stood next to Lily. He looked accusingly at James before placing a hand on the small of Lily's back. Lily stiffened as well as James at this gesture; no one did anything about it, though. "C'mon, Lily, we have better things to do." he said, glaring at Sirius, James, and Remus.

They turned to go, but James called out one last time, "Just don't rat us out, Lily. Please." Then he let them go.

* * *

**Author's Note: OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DRAMAAAAAAA! Well, I got pretty excited when I came up with this idea. And y'know, someone else probably had the same idea... But this came into my head all on its own, I'm proud to say. So yeah, I thought it was pretty epic. Umm... I was gonna update, like, a week ago. My friend was like "When are you gonna update?" and I was like "Maybe tonight, I'm on a roll." That was Friday night. And then hey, Sunday. I failed. But here it is tonight! Yeah if you're ever worried I just randomly abandoned this, then don't. 'Cause I'm almost constantly working on it and thinking about it. Except the five days after I update. Because I just can't write chapter after chapter... It's kind of sad... I think. Haha! So please review and let me know what you think! Sincerely, LupinLuver888**

**P.S. Sorry for the million mistakes my chapters contain. I don't really have anyone to proofread it and most times I'm too lazy to reread my chapters. SO I'm truly sorry. :) REVIEW! :D**


	6. Trustworthy

** Disclaimer: I'd have to be mad as a hatter to say that these magnificent characters, plots, and settings were mine. No, they are J.K. Rowling's. So please give all credit to her! Thank you and enjoy my story.**

* * *

** Chapter Six: Trustworthy**

I failed my way to success. **~Thomas Edison**

**~X~**

Two days ago, Hogwarts –along with the rest of the world– was hit by a major snow storm. The snow was three feet high in some places on the grounds. It was December eighteenth, two days before everyone set off for their Christmas holidays. Professor Slughorn was hosting his annual Slug Club Christmas party. It was also three weeks after The Incident. The morning after Lily stormed out of the Shrieking Shack with Snape, Potter woke with a bad headache and a leaden feeling in his chest. Something was wrong. He glanced at his sleeping friends and saw that Remus was missing. Then he remembered: he had lost Lily. Again. It was all Clara's fault. And Snape's. All James ever wanted was Lily. Instead of spending the following weeks groveling for Lily's forgiveness, he planned. He planned the Quidditch plays, pranks for three Marauders –since they'd be short one for the next five days or so, and a way to get Lily to come back around. Planning was a good distraction.

A fire crackled steadily in the Gryffindor commonroom at four in the morning. The sun hadn't risen yet, so the room was lit by candle. There was an eerie feeling about, but Lily didn't notice as she sat scrawling away in the corner at a table. The pressure of seventh year was weighing down on all of the students and Lily didn't want to have too much work to do over holiday. Her red hair was thrown sloppily into a ponytail and she was still in her pajamas –which was an oversized blue shirt and baggy, green plaid pants. An hour passed and all that changed was the position Lily sat in and the paper she was working on. Around five-thirty, the first straggler of the morning walked down the stairs.

The boy had a dark brown mop and angular features. He was slightly lanky and muscular, and recognized Lily immediately. "Lily," he smiled.

Lily stared like a deer caught in headlights. "Oh, Garret." she smiled. Garret MacDonald was an old friend. The two had dated for all of fourth year, but it didn't pan out. However, there wasn't any post-breakup awkwardness. Just easy friendship.

"What're you up to this early in the morning?" he asked, ambling over.

"Just cramming in some homework before the holiday." said Lily, "How about yourself?"

"Just ambling around." He paused. "Say," began Garret, "you wouldn't happen to have a date to Slughorn's party, would you?"

"Oh..." Lily's mind flew to James. Would he ask her? Did he already have a date? Would he be going with –Clara? As much as she sort-of hated to admit it, Lily missed James. She missed running her fingers through his hair and hearing his stupid jokes; she missed watching him laugh with their friends and planting random kisses on her. Then she glance at Garret, whose face was falling. James probably had a different date. A prettier, smarter, sleeker, graceful-er date. Someone who wasn't Lily. And was most likely Clara. "Oh, alright." Lily smiled, stood, and hugged her friend.

"As friends?" asked Garret.

"As friends."

A few hours later in the Great Hall, everyone was chattering excitedly. It was Saturday and tomorrow, everyone would be back home –except for the few who stayed. Lily was at Hogsmeade with Garret doing last minute accessory shopping while James sat at the Gryffindor table listening to Clara drone on and on about something-or-other. Something about tonight, the party, how she didn't have a date. Clara's sharp nails dug into James' arm and twisted with a pleasant expression, "So, are you going to ask me?"

"Er... Ask what?" huffed James, missing Lily too much.

"About tonight?"

"Oh." James looked at Clara, understanding. "Yeah, uh, let's go to the party together."

"Okay! Wear a blue tie. It'll offset your eyes and make my dress look really nice. My dress is just lovely! It makes my bum look really good..." Clara's voice faded to the back of James' mind. Did he even own a blue tie? His dress robes were still nice and he was sure he could find a bluish tie. But –bloody hell! Who would tie his tie? Lily surely wasn't around to do it. There was no way he was asking Clara. Involuntarily, James shuddered at the thought.

It was going to be a long day.

**xxx**

The day went by all too quickly for Lily. She didn't have the right dress for the party since last year she stayed in her dorm with Selena complaining about the boys at Hogwarts. Her dress was perfect. It was strapless with a heart-shaped neckline. There was a satin ribbon just under her breasts that met in a tied bow at the back. The tulle skirt cascaded to a stop just above her knee in hues of purple, blue, and sea green. Random little jewels of the same colors dotted all around. When she had showed Garret, he smiled appreciatively and said, "I'm going to look like a total dolt next to you." He winked and looked her up and down one last time before saying, "If you don't get it, I will, you little redheaded bird." After another affectionate compliment, Lily was convinced.

So she stood in front of the stand up mirror in her dorm sweeping her hair into a French twist when Kendall walked into the room. All of the girls just stared at her for a second –she was the picture of beauty. Kendall's curls were pulled loosely together at the nape of her neck by a pink butterfly clip enchanted to flutter gently. The pink of the skirt on her dress matched the butterfly's color. The skirt was made of a silk with several other pink gossamer skirts puffing beneath it; it stopped just short of her knees. The torso of the dress was an ivory color, felt swirls patterned onto it. "Wow, you guys look great!" said Kendall sweetly.

"Psht," said Annabelle, who wore a one shouldered and sleeved green dress that offset her tan skin, "you look better."

Kendall blushed and said, "Sirius was complaining all day about his dress robes."

"I'm sure he'll look fine," replied Selena. On her bed, Selena sat cross-legged in her light blue baby doll dress. Her blonde hair was up in a neat bun with two tendrils hanging on either side; little crystal beads dotted everywhere.

"I hope so. Say, have any of you seen Mariette?"

"She said she didn't want to go to the party," Annabelle remembered after a moment.

The girls went back to fixing themselves up and Mariette walked in. Unlike the rest, Mariette wore grey sweatpants and a Gryffindor spirit shirt. She carried her Ancient Runes textbook and a licorice wand, grumbling to herself. "Wow," she said, looking up, "I'd date you guys." They all burst out laughing, excited for the night.

**xxx**

Sirius smirked at himself in the mirror as James attempted to tie his tie in it. "I think I look pretty good, mate," he said, adjusting his tie, "And I fooled Kendall pretty good. She thinks I'm showing up in some bloody ugly dress robes. I can't wait to see the look on her face."

"Yeah," said James, rolling his eyes, "You get an extremely happy girlfriend while Clara chops my head off with a fork or something because my tie is purple. How do I own a purple tie and not a blue one?"

The two boys looked very neat and crisp. James had charcoal dress robes, and Sirius' were such a dark green that they were almost black. Behind them, Remus walked up in his tan dress robes and laughed at James' pathetic excuse for a knot. "Having trouble there, Prongs?" asked Remus, amused.

"Moony, please tie this." James practically shoved the tie in his face.

But Remus just shook his head, "No, you have to learn to tie it yourself!"

James groaned and shoved a hand through his hair –which he didn't bother trying to tame since he messed it up habitually and unconsciously. He planned on asking Lily, but then the Incident happened. "Whatever," he said, "I'll just start a new style." So, he let it hang around his neck and hoped that Clara wouldn't get too mad.

"Alright, guys," said Sirius, adjusting his hair one last time, "Let's go do this thing."

The three boys exited the room, leaving Peter to snooze on his bed. In the commonroom, boys and girls were dressed fancily; the atmosphere was excited. Clara was standing by the fire, talking to a friend who obviously wasn't going. Discreetly, James scanned the room for Lily. Oh, there she was. Hand in hand with –was that Garret MacDonald? Yes, but Merlin did Lily look beautiful. He was about to call out to her when Clara spotted him. "James!" she practically screamed. "Don't you know how to tie a tie? For Merlin's sake you've needed to tie one for seven years! And it's not even blue."

"Relax, Clara," James put his hands up and backed away slowly, "it's called starting a new fashion statement."

"Gay," Sirius coughed into his hands. Remus whacked him on the back of his head.

Then Kendall walked down the girls dormitory stairs gracefully and Sirius' carefully planned out plan flew from his mind. "Merlin," he said under his breath. Kendall's eyes widened as she saw Sirius in his handsome dress robes.

"Sirius!" she said, laughing as she walked over to him, "I thought you had hideous dress robes."

"They look hideous, compared to yours." The couple kissed and flirted until someone told them to get a room. Sirius just waved them off with an obscene gesture.

It was about halfway into the party when Lily realized how out of control it was. There were crashers everywhere, Slughorn was likely passed out and drugged somewhere, and the chaperones (the ones brave enough) had finally given up and left for the night. The night wasn't as great as Lily had hoped. Mistletoe was hanging from the ceiling randomly and her neck hurt from looking up constantly. Then there was Garret, who most likely has something illegal in his system and had been trying to shove his tongue down Lily's throat all night. She was just tired. It was while she was resting on the arm of a couch –just escaped Garret– when a soft, strong hand rested on her shoulder and a familiar voice whispered her name.

"Ja–uh–Potter," Lily gasped, a bit shocked. The warmth emanating from his touch on her shoulder spread throughout her body. Suddenly she found herself wishing that they were back in the commonroom, or in his room, curled up in each other's arms and breathing each other in. The idea sounded a lot better than this so-called Christmas party.

"Lily," breathed James. Even in the dim light, she looked beautiful. Though pieces of hair were loose and sticking to her face, James just wanted to take her in his arms and take her away from here. Instead, Mr. Cool mode flipped on and he asked, "So where's your hot date for the night?"

Que Miss Defensive. Lily stiffened and shook her head slightly, "Garret is..."

"Crashed on a table somewhere, most likely."

"Probably." sighed Lily.

Then the worst –but really the best– thing happened. A giggly girl who had one too many alcoholic drinks (Merlin knows where they came from) looked at James and Lily, smiled, and told them to look up. There, above the pair, was a sprig of mistletoe. Lily gulped while she was staring at the blasted thing, and the movement was all it took to set James off. He didn't care where Clara was; he cupped Lily's face with one hand and the the back of her neck with the other. Slowly, their faces drew together as if by some invisible, unstoppable force.

There was one peck, and then another, and then James opened Lily's mouth with his hesitantly. Their kiss deepened for a soul-shattering moment before Lily pushed him away gently. James' heart, which was like a fragile China cup taped back together, shattered again. His eyes searched for Lily's, willing her to look at him. "Lily," he said, he voice breaking, "Lily, I love you. Please."

He's a good actor, Lily told herself. Maybe she'd even start believing it. But the part that always secretly loved James said, _You know he's not acting. Stop lying to yourself._ Lily bit down on her lip, avoiding James' hazel eyes. _What could it hurt? To just take him back? Throw Clara into the lake or something..._ that voice just never shut up, did it? He lied to you! Logic shouted, the James-loving part retorted, a war went on in her head. But it only lasted about five seconds, because James didn't have any more patience. He just grabbed Lily shoulders and snogged her full-on.

As much as she knew she should, Lily just didn't push him away. Because, goddammit, she loved him, too! There: she loved James Potter. Screw ups and all. She _would_ throw Clara into the lake where she could have ugly sea urchin babies with the squid. It all seemed like a fantastic idea until Garret –who had sobered up quite well– walked over. If you want to know what the look on his face looked like, just imagine what a puppy would look like after you kicked it. Now multiply it by the highest number you could think of.

Lily's stomached dropped to the floor. James stood up and awkwardly ran his hand through his hair. "Garret, I..." Lily began. But what was she going to say? _I'm sorry you were sort of rebound, and– _but they weren't really exclusive, right? She specifically remembered him saying "just friends". But still...

"No," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "it's fine, Lily. Really. 'Sides, gotta head back and finish packing for the holidays. Have fun, you two."

Lily felt just _horrible_.

**XXX**

_Since when did things get so awkward around here?_ thought Lily. She'd gone home for winter holidays, celebrating Christmas at home where Petunia had her unpleasant goad of a boyfriend. There was a new sweater and school supplies, though. But Lily hadn't yet told her friends about what happened at Slughorn's party. She hadn't made any contact at all with James or Garret. However, here she was, sitting awkwardly in the commonroom with all of them. It was the night everyone came back; there was an unmistakable buzz of excitement.

James Potter sat in a dark corner with his friends, looking like the ultimate of cool. Sirius was going on and on about the amazing escapades he had over the break while scanning the room for Kendall. Remus was reading and pretending to listen to Sirius. Oddly, Peter was nowhere to be found. James was just trying to figure out why Lily was avoiding him. At Slughorn's party, after Garret left, Lily awkwardly stood up and raced away. _He told her he loved her_. And she just walked away. Which, when he thought about it, wasn't so surprising. He didn't tell her about Clara. _Clara_. This was all her fault. Because, in essence, James was never really going to break up with Lily. He was going to tell his mother that this whole arranged marriage thing didn't work. He would be marry Lily and wake up next to her head of red hair every morning. And kiss her goodnight every night. He would get to know each and every one of those freckles. They would have cute little mini-James' and -Lily's.

"Mate," Sirius stopped in the middle of his epic story, "you're staring at her."

"Sorry," said James, shaking his hand and raking a hand through his hair, "I just can't get her our of my bloody mind."

"Yeah, I can tell." quipped Sirius.

Then, it hit him. "Hey, Padfoot," said James, cocking an eyebrow, "You know what we haven't done in a while?"

"What?"

"Pull a prank. And I know just the prank to pull." It was a brilliant idea, really. It wasn't a prank in the traditional sense. More of a trick. He could already see it play out in his head. It was perfect. Tomorrow starts new classes and more homework; so they would set it up for tomorrow night. James was determined to make this work. The Marauders – minus Peter– set to work. Then, James excused his self to run upstairs, grab a white t-shirt, and walk cooly up to Lily.

"Potter," she said, not missing a beat, "what do you want?"

Her eyes flew to the white shirt he was waving. "A truce," smiled James, flinging the shirt at her lap.

Oddly, Lily didn't argue. "Fine." The shirt remained in her lap. James turned on his heal to leave, but Lily stopped him. "Wait, James," she sighed, "I'm tired of this. Can we be friends?" James' heart dropped. Friends. _Friends_. Oh well, it was a start.

"Sure, Lily." said James.

**~X~**

Everything was set up perfectly. From the morning to tonight, James worked on improving his friendship with Lily. They had at least five classes together this term –which was good in the long run. The whole day, James had Lily laughing. They set up a time to pick out new Prefect duties and patrols and even have their own little inside joke, now. All in one day. James thought it was quite the accomplishment.

So three-quarters of the Gryffindor population sat around doing their homework in the commonroom, not paying any attention to what was rolled up on the ceiling. The box in James' pocket felt heavy and he was actually _nervous_. James Potter –nervous! Who would've thought? It wasn't the largest, most grand trick of all tricks, but it was very important. He looked around and met Sirius' eye; Sirius was cuddling with Kendall while she attempted to make sense of her Ancient Runes homework. A slight nod from his best friend was all James needed to launch up and go over to Lily.

"Lily," he greeted her, shoving his hands in his pockets, "can I speak to you for a minute?"

Loose pieces of hair fell over her face as Lily looked up. "Sure," she replied and set her quill down on her Astrology homework. James coaxed her up and then immediately dropped on one knee. Banners all around the commonroom fell down from the ceiling, revealing a message.

A large, white box materialized in James' hand while Lily read the banners. With everyone's eyes on the couple, he opened the box slowly. Nestled inside was the cheesiest, bright green ring. It was plastic and had a flower on top. "Lily–" began James.

"James, I am _not _marrying you!" shouted Lily, the smile unable to wipe off of her face. She glanced around at the banners once more; they said, "3 words, 8 letters" and "Lily, I love you".

Shoving the ring under Lily's nose, James hopped up on his feet and said, "Then at least give me a chance. One chance. That's all I'm asking for. I've got nothing else to hide from you. If I mess this up, you can throw me off the Astrology tower and you'll never have to look at me again."

Lily hesitated.

"Please?" added James.

Kendall looked at Sirius, wondering why they put Lily up to this. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to go. Everyone was looking at her. She looked so torn. _I wonder what's going to happen next_, everyone in the room thought.

* * *

**Author's Note: I know what you must be thinking. "Whoa! She actually updated her fanfic!" I know, I know. It took me forever. I'm sorry! I've been craaaazy busy lately. Anyway, this chapter was supposed to be more Christmas-based, but I lost the holiday spirit. And plus, it's Spring already! But it doesn't feel like it.. I wonder what Lily is going to do :o honestly, I don't know. But I would like to thank shysinger101 for getting my butt moving with this chapter and giving some great feedback! Which brings me to, like, topic number four or whatever. **

**_PLEASE READ THIS!: Everyone always Story-Alerts or Favorites. And I LOVE that. Don't get me wrong, here. But I would absolutely looove for more reviews. They help me update faster and let me know where I should go with the story. Also, read my author's notes. I put a lot of important stuff in here that people always ask me about. Anyway, please review! I love each and every one of you and all your story-alerts and favorites, but they just don't boost me like reviews. So please!_**

**Also, I know this is getting kind of long, but I just want people to know that I'm here for you. If you need to talk to me or something, feel free to contact me. So many people are just so sad or lonely, but you never know because they hide behind a smile. Each and every one of you are beautiful. Don't you dare forget it.**

**Much Love, LupinLuver888**

**P.S. Sorry for all the mistakes this chapter probably contains. Anyone willing to beta for me?**


	7. Sort of Back to Normal

**Disclaimer: I do not take any credit, here! It's all J.K. Rowling's brilliance.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Sort of Back to Normal**

Nothing lasts forever. Forever is a lie. All we have is what's between hello and goodbye. **~Marilyn Bergman**

**XXX**

Clara had a study date with a cute Ravenclaw in the library. All was going well until a fifth year girl who idolized her came running in. "Clara!" she shouted, earning a glare from both.

"What?" snapped Clara, almost snapping her quill.

"You will _never_ believe what's going on in the commonroom! James just proposed, _proposed_, to Lily! I was like, ohmigosh, to Stephanie. And then I ran to get you. But we have to go!"

"For Merlin's sake..." mumbled Clara. She stood, shot an apologetic look to the Ravenclaw, then raced away.

James. He was such a dolt sometimes. No one really knew about what was going on between them; except Snape, Emily, Lily, possibly James' clan of friends, maybe Lily's, and that's about it. But really, he was on his knee, proposing to that _ginger_. _I bet she doesn't even tan in the summer_, thought Clara bitterly as she sprinted up the steps, _just freckles, freckles, and more freckles!_ Air seemed to have a harder time reaching her lungs, but she willed herself to go faster.

However, by the time the two Gryffindors reached the commonroom, the excitement and confusion had died down. James and Lily were nowhere in sight. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and the rest of their bloody friends were, though.

Hoping she looked intimidating, Clara marched over to the group and demanded, "Where did the _happy couple _go?"

"To go have a row somewhere in the castle, I reckon." replied Sirius, looking unhappy to be speaking to her.

Selena, who was nonstop glaring at Clara, "Y'know, they wouldn't have had to go through all this bull this year if it wasn't for you and your petty little games. What's your bloody problem, anyway? For the sake of Merlin's beard, no sane witch would mess things up like that!" Selena was getting all worked up and to punctuate her last word, she flung her hands up. She hit Annabelle in the face though, causing a semi-fight to break out.

"My problem?" A brilliant plan formulated in Clara's head. "I don't have a problem. I have a concern. You see, over the summer holidays, James told me he loved me. And I fell for it. So I'm merely looking out for dear Lily. Talking to her won't convince her of what a git James really is, so maybe a little heartbreak will."

None of them looked like they believed her, but she had planted the idea in their minds. It was up to them to think what they will. "You're bloody mad." spat Kendall. This shocked Clara, since Kendall was always so sweet, but she just shrugged and walked away.

**xxx**

James and Lily said nothing until they found a little alcove on the third floor. They stood facing each other for a good ten minutes until Lily let out an exasperated sigh. "James..." she started. Another minute passed before she finished, "I love you. But I'm scared. How do I know you won't break my heart?"

"You don't," said James. His face lit up, like he was relieved. "That's the beauty of life. You don't know what's gonna come next. You can't live afraid, because then you'll live with wonders and regrets. Thinking about the what-if's. Lily, I promise you, I would never, ever, ever break your heart. I love you too much. But I can still understand why you're afraid. I just need you to take this risk. I can't imagine how I would go on if you were out of my life permanently."

A good couple minutes went by before Lily made any sort of reply. But there was no speaking, because Lily launched herself at James and kissed him full on the lips. After a minute of kissing, she mumbled against his lips, "I love you, James. You got that ring?"

A smile spread across his lips. Perfect.

**xxx**

Why could the couples of Hogwarts never get a break? Sirius and Kendall's relationship was strained. All of the girls decided he was back on the market, since there was no way he could've stayed in a serious relationship for six months and a week. They flirted and giggled and left their hands on him too long. Kendall was frustrated because she never seemed to have him to herself outside of the Marauders' dorm.

"Please, Sirius, be serious for a minute here." begged Kendall.

"Look, Kenny," said Sirius, silliness absent from his eyes, "_you are mine._ And I'm yours. And I have a surprise for you for Valentine's day. No one's going to take you away from me. Ever. Those girls, they're delusional." He planted a soft peck on her lips.

"I really hope so," sighed Kendall. "I'm sorry. I'm so stressed right now." She laid back on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Well I think I know how to solve that." replied Sirius, a devilish look on his face. Without further ado, he rolled on top of her and kissed her until her problems went away.

In front of the fire down in the commonroom, Lily was tutoring James in Herbology. "I don't get what the difference is between... Oh!"

Lily laughed and stood from the cage of his arm. "Good job. Now finish your homework, I have to organize Mariette's bureau. She's such a bum." James kissed her, and Lily was heading up the stairs. But as soon as she hit the top stair, her face got hit with a pie. A banana cream pie. "Bloody freaking hell!" shouted Lily, brandishing her wand in record time.

"Oops!" a shrill voice said, and another giggled and said, "Merlin, we're so clumsy!"

While wiping cream out of her eye, she swung at thin air. "Goddammit! I'm so tired of you and your dumb pranks! You're getting worse than the Marauders, except you're only targeting me." For the past month, Lily had been subject to stupid pranks formed by Clara and her stupid accomplice. She was sick and tired of it.

"Look," growled Clara, her face eerily serious, "you're going out with the boy I'm going to marry. Think what you will, but he will not get out of this. I'm sorry, but until you decide to end it between you two and make everything less messy, your life will continue to be a living hell. But actually, I'm not sorry." Clara and Emily pushed past simultaneously, almost knocking Lily down the stairs.

Don't let it get to you, thought Lily. Don't let it get to you. You love James, and James loves you. He'll figure out a way to get out of that dumb arranged marriage. They could elope! Maybe to Paris. That would be nice. Just don't let it get to you.

That became her mantra. But she was wearing thin, and by Valentine's Day she decided to confront James about it. They were sitting in the middle of a corridor (a ritual they adopted) and she just wanted to get it done and over with. "James," she said, "I can't take it anymore."

"Take what?" asked James. He was worried. All month, he'd been worried that Lily was going to leave him all alone.

"Clara! Do you even know what she's managed to complete in the past month? She singed my eyebrows off, shoved pie in my face, scattered all of my books all over the castle, stapled one of my bras to the Slytherin notice board, replaced my acne potion with... I won't even finish that. But I've gone through shit. I love you, James, so much. But she's doing all this because we're together."

"What are you saying?" His worst nightmare coming true.

"I don't know. I just needed to talk to you about it."

"It's Valentine's Day. How about we talk about it tomorrow?"

"James, please. I can't."

"Okay. Lily, please don't leave me. I couldn't take that..."

"I don't know, James..."

**xxx**

"Sirius, this is... You didn't have to." said Kendall, looking at her surroundings. They were obviously in the Room of Requirement, but it was so plush and romantic and beautiful and perfect. The floor was soft red carpet and in the middle was a dinner table set up for two.

"Actually, I did." replied Sirius, a satisfied smirk playing at his lips.

They sat down at the table and Sirius said, "What would you like to eat, madam?"

"Don't call me that, Sirius," joked Kendall, "But uh, I'm kind of in the mood for a cheeseburger... Oh!" A cheeseburger had appeared on the plate in front of her with smiley face fries and ketchup. "Could I have a rootbeer float, too?" Sure enough, a rootbeer float showed up next to her plate. The couple spent a good hour talking, laughing, and making ridiculous food orders.

Finally, Sirius looked at Kendall and stared. "You're beautiful," he said adoringly.

"Oh stop, you're making me blush." Kendall joked. But she realized he wasn't kidding. "Is something up, Sirius?"

After a minute, he began fishing around in his pocket. A small velvet box emerged in his hand. "Kendall, breathe. I'm not asking for your hand in marriage –at least, not yet."

"Oh..." she said quietly as she visibly exhaled. "Okay."

"It's a promise ring. I know how stressed you've been lately and all the other girls trying to flirt with me isn't exactly helping. So, with this ring I promise that I'm forever yours. Every time you start to worry, just look at this cheesy ring and think of me. And I promise one day I'll marry you."

A broad, shining smile spread throughout Kendall's face. She couldn't help but giggle as he slipped it on her finger. "When did you turn into such a sap?" she laughed.

"When I met you."

**xxx**

Lily sat huddled in James' arms in the same corridor on the same night, pouring her heart out to him. "I feel so bad James. But you're not subject to any of their stupid pranks. They're not even funny pranks, like yours! They're just plain mean and petty."

"I'm sorry, Lily." was all James could think of to say. Because inside, steel bands were constricting around his heart as he waited for Lily to say her final decision.

"It's so aggravating! I haven't done anything to her, except fall in love with you. But you know, you can't always get what you want!"

"Please don't leave me." whispered James.

"What?"

He coughed and said louder, "Please, don't leave me."

"Oh James..." Lily looked up at him with a sad smile. "I won't." _Hopefully_, she added silently.

**~X~**

After Valentine's Day, things were sort of back to normal. At least, everyone but Lily and James. Their relationship was still under strain. Two months had past since Valentine's day, and each day Lily went through at least three stunts pulled by Clara and Emily. It was very stressful, since she was trying to get all O's. But she would put up with it. For James. However, she didn't know how much more she could take. She already had to ask Kendall's mom to mail her more robes, socks, and underwear.

James knew the frustration Lily was under. He felt it in her shoulders when he hugged her; he saw it in her eyes whenever she laughed. He was scared that she was considering leaving him. He didn't know if he could handle that. Guess they should just wait and see.

It was now the last week of May, and all the seventh years began studying crazily for their N.E.W.T.s. It just added more stress on Lily. She was walking through the commonroom with a very high, carefully balanced stack of books in her arms when _it _happened. She couldn't see over her stack, so she had Selena guide her by the arm.

They reached a table where Clara and Emily were sitting, giggling and gossiping to each other. Selena thought nothing of it, and Lily couldn't even see them. But Clara stuck her foot out to trip Selena, and Emily tripped Lily. Books went flying everywhere and Lily hit her head on the table. "What the..." mumbled Lily. Then she looked up and saw Clara laughing at her. "I hate you." she said clearly.

Clara looked offended, then shocked. Little black dots danced across Lily's vision. "Holy crap! You're bleeding!" squealed Clara, "You're gonna get it all over my shoes!"

The last thing Lily heard was a deep voice say, "What did you Lily?"

**x**

James stood over Lily in the hospital wing. She was laying in the bed with her red hair fanned across the pillow. She looked peaceful and serene, except for the gauze taped across her head and the wrinkle between her eyebrows. "I'm sorry, my Lilyflower."

**xxx**

A few days later, all Lily had was her stitches. Selena had her arm in a cast and sling (being the clumsy person she was, she ended up breaking her arm). But she avoided James, because the inevitable was happening.

Finally, on a Sunday night, she worked up the courage to confront him in his dorm. She knocked on the door and Remus answered. "Hey Lily, you here for Prongs?" he said jovially.

"Yeah. Er, yes. I kind of, uh, need to talk to him alone..." The words rushed out of Lily's mouth so fast, she was shocked Remus understood.

"Just... Take it easy on him. Okay?" said Remus, a sad look in his eyes. "He'll understand, though."

"I hope."

Remus left to retrieve James. In a few minutes, James ambled out into the hallway –shirtless. _Can't you make this a _little_ easy for me?_ asked Lily silently.

"Hey," greeted James. He went to kiss her, but she ducked out of the way. "Is something up?"  
"I can't take it any more, James. I'm tired of having to deal with all this shit because I'm going out with you. When it was just me, it was a little bearable. But she dragged Lena into it! I can't. I'm sorry, James, but I really need to focus on my N.E.W.T.s, too. I can't do that if she keep pulling dumb, selfish stunts like that. I'm sorry, but it's over between us. Besides, you have a duty to your family."

"Lily, I..." But she was gone before he could answer. So that was it. She left him alone. It was all Clara's fault. He couldn't even do anything about it. He should've known this was going to happen.

Remus came out into the hallway and place a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, mate," he said. "Chocolate frog?"

"Sure, Moony."

The two walked into their dorm, where James finally broke down and cried.

In her own dorm, Lily sat in a circle of her friend's hugs, crying out of sadness and frustration. Why was she such a whimp?

* * *

**Author's Note: So, this was actually really short. I'm sorry for all the corny romance and stuff... But this is the end of this story! I'm sorry it's so short, but I have a short attention span. And I really just wanted to get to writing to the sequel. :D But yeah... I'm sorry I just wanted to get this one done and over with. But I have the sequel all planned out! :D Also, I'm gonna post another story that I tried to get my friend to collab with me.. But she was like "I'm not gonna be able to write a whole chapter!" So I'm taking over because we both really liked the idea and stuff. So it's "**You Wanna Bet?**" It's based around OC's that are based off of myself and my friend :) So go keep your eyes peeled for the sequel to this story, and the new one! Thank you to those who stuck with this truly terrible story 'till the end. 'Till next time!3 ~LupinLuver888**


	8. The Key to Success

Some Things I Believe Should Be Said.

Okay, one: I really do think you guys should read my Author's Notes. You can just skim through them or whatever, but sometimes they hold some really important things. I don't think people are grasping the fact that this story is actually finished... There's a sequel. Like, y'know, the second Harry Potter book? This story is the first, and the second will be the sequel that I am currently writing. So I beg you to at least skim through my Author's Notes. Sometimes they're really dumb and pointless, but other times they hold valuable information. I'm sorry if I seem a little bitchy here, but it sorta annoys me. And I'm tired. So, I'm really sorry. It's cool if you decide to boycott my stories forever. But if not, I look forward to seeing you in my other ones. Thanks for your time, ~LupinLuver888


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